Matthew Leifheit: To Die Alive

To Die Alive conjures a hedonistic fever dream of Fire Island’s historic gay communities. The book contains 77 photographs by New York artist Matthew Leifheit taken by night over the past five years. The pictures show a world of desire layered in history, including the Ice Palace bar’s infamous underwear party, the men-only Belvedere Guesthouse, clandestine encounters in the Meat Rack, and landscapes in all seasons of the island’s delicate maritime forest. The wide-ranging subjects of Leifheit’s portraits are the intergenerational community who come to the island for refuge or employment, ranging from sugar daddies to bartenders and sex workers. The series takes the form of a tragedy, combining many nights and many histories to form an endless night of sex, death, and evolution towards new definitions of queerness. As homosexuality gains mainstream acceptance, many queer Americans no longer need to go to geographic extremes like Fire Island, Provincetown, Palm Springs or Key West to express themselves. But what is the cost of assimilation? To Die Alive is both romantic and grotesque, challenging the sun-bleached history of homoerotic representation on this fragile island, which itself is under constant threat of erosion into the sea.