UB Libraries presents exhibit on San Francisco Renaissance, occult and emergence of queer identity

A new exhibit hosted by the UB Libraries Poetry Collection explores how the poets, artists and activists of the San Francisco Renaissance engaged with occult influences to create queer identity.

“The Language of Magic: Queer Occult Poetics” opened Monday in 420 Capen Hall, North Campus. The exhibit is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Tours can be arranged by contacting the Poetry Collection.

The San Francisco Renaissance was a radical cultural movement that flourished and fueled a community of vibrant artistic activity in the 1950s and 1960s. Working in the Bay Area after World War II, these artists were steeped in Modernism and influenced by the Beat Generation and the innovations at Black Mountain College, led by poet Charles Olson.

Many, but not all, of its members were queer, though a shared interest in the occult characterized much of the group. That alignment of magic and queer identity provided access to an alternative narrative running parallel to, yet unacknowledged by, mainstream society, according to Alison Fraser, associate curator of the Poetry Collection and curator of “The Language of Magic.”

“The occult not only gestured toward their interest in magic and the supernatural, but also toward what is concealed, whether by the closet or queer coding, a way of writing with meaning inaccessible to mainstream readers,” says Fraser. “What emerges is an alignment of magic and queer identity, where queer coding operates as a form of magic imperceivable to the uninitiated.

“Their writing occupies an occulted space, a liminal territory of unauthorized belief and practice, that allowed them to reimagine gender, sexuality, poetry and language.”

Many key figures from this movement will be featured in the exhibit, including the poet Robert Duncan, one of the first American men to write openly about his sexuality, creating the beginnings of a broader discourse on LGBTQ+ identities; Jack Spicer, whose experimental workshop helped generate new poetic forms; and Helen Adam, the Scottish-American poet and artist whose influential work countered traditional notions of femininity.

“Presenting this work showcases the amazing courage of these writers and their creativity,” says Fraser. “Visitors will come away with an understanding for not only why this era was so important to literature, but for expanding a sense for what’s possible.”

Some of the items on display are Elsa Gidlow’s “On a Grey Thread” (1923), the first openly lesbian book of love poetry published in the United States; manuscripts for Lynn Lonidier’s “A Lesbian Estate” (1977); Robert Duncan’s “Ballad of the Forfar Witches’ Sing” (c. 1961); Helen Adam’s camera; and a letter from Harvey Milk to the poet Bruce Boone.

The exhibit is an idea Fraser has been nurturing for a long time.

“We have many strengths in the Poetry Collection, but I’ve noticed through the years that people have always gravitated to the materials on display for this exhibit,” she says. “That motivated me to bring that material together and tell this important story through them.

“It’s one of my passion areas and it’s so exciting to see it come to life.”