She Sells Sea Shells
Alice Austen House, Staten Island, New York

Alice Austen House Presents Group Exhibition curated by Gemma Rolls-Bentley: “She Sells Seashells” Exploring Queer Women’s Enduring Relationship with the Seashore

(Staten Island, NY) – The Alice Austen House presents a new group exhibition “She Sells Seashells” from curator and writer Gemma Rolls-Bentley, running September 6, 2025 – February 21, 2026. Inspired by the waterside home of pioneering American photographer Alice Austen and her lifelong partner Gertrude Tate, the exhibition brings together 12 contemporary artists to explore the relationship between queer women and the seashore. New, existing, and site-specific works by the artists will be exhibited alongside Austen’s photographs and objects from her extensive shell collection, with pieces displayed throughout the gallery spaces and the historic domestic rooms of the home.

Exhibiting artists include: Alice Austen (1866–1952, New York, US), Ana Benaroya (b.1986, New York, US), Lola Flash (b.1959, Montclair, US), Jenna Gribbon (b.1978, Knoxville, US), Meryl Meisler (b.1951, New York, US), Alina Perez (b.1995, Miami, US), Marguerite Piard (b.1996, Rueil-Malmaison, France), Hannah Quinlan & Rosie Hastings (b.1991, Newcastle / London, UK), Nastja Säde Rönkkö (b.1985, Helsinki, Finland), Ro Robertson (b.1984, Sunderland, UK), SHARP (b.1971, Bradford, UK), Alexandria Smith (New York, US)

Across art, literature, and film, queer women have long been depicted at the water’s edge — intimately connected to coastlines, tides, and the liminal space of the sea. From the stormy romance of Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire to the writing of Julia Armfield, Anne Carson, and Eileen Myles, these narratives evoke longing, isolation, and transformation. While promoting her 2022 novel Our Wives Under the Sea, Armfield wryly captured this trope when she asked, “What is it with these lesbians and why are they all so wet?” She Sells Seashells builds on this lineage, presenting work by contemporary artists that reflects on the seashore as a site of queer desire, connection, grief, and possibility.

The title also riffs on the familiar alliteration “She Sells Seashells,” widely believed to be inspired by Mary Anning, the 19th-century paleontologist from Lyme Regis, England. Just as Anning’s coastal landscape shaped her radical scientific legacy, the Staten Island shoreline shaped Austen’s photographic practice; She Sells Seashells draws connections between lesbian artists who reflect on their own relationships to the sea, from Austen’s American homeland to Anning’s British coast.

Gemma Rolls-Bentley states “I was deeply moved when I first visited the Alice Austen House — it felt like an important and rare site of lesbian history, a place where that history lives and breathes. The waterside setting, and the relationship Alice shared with the sea, shaped a home where she, Gertrude, and their circle could be open and free with one another. I’m so excited to bring the work of intergenerational living artists from across the US and Europe into this space, placing their practices in conversation with Alice’s photography and the legacy of queer life that unfolded here. For me, there’s something in both Alice’s work and that of the artists in this show that sees the sea as a site of limitless potential — a space of opportunity, hope, and unconditional acceptance.”

Victoria Munro, Executive Director says “Over the past decade, I have been exploring the connections between Alice Austen’s (1866-1952) photographic archive and the work of contemporary artists. Deeply rooted in the waterfront surroundings of her historic home and gardens, Alice created a radical retreat that became a sanctuary for her close circle of queer female friends. She documented the harbor waters prolifically, embracing swimming and sailing as part of her life.

I have long been fascinated by the broader lesbian relationship to the seaside and its role as a refuge for queer creativity and love. Collaborating with Gemma Rolls-Bentley has expanded these explorations into an international dialogue, allowing us to engage with artists whose work resonates with these themes. I am thrilled to welcome these visionary artists into Alice’s home and to present their work alongside hers, creating a powerful conversation across time and place.”

The exhibition continues Alice Austen House’s commitment to honoring the radical legacy of its namesake through contemporary exhibitions.

Individual photography courtesy Lévy Gorvy Dayan and Matt Grub.