A highlight of every New York City summer is art nonprofit BOFFO's Performance Festival, an immersive and durational presentation in conversation with the landscape and architecture of the gay haven known as the Fire Island Pines. Think: a beach-bound party from sunrise to sunset with cold drinks, performance work, DJ sets and plenty of new, queer friends to make.
This year's beach festival included commissioned work by H. Sinno with Ethan Philbrick, Star Amerasu and nasa4nasa, curated by Adam HajYahia and Papi Juice. After sunset, the party moved indoors, with commissions presented from TYGAPAW with Kings-Lee Rose, Sterling Juan Diaz with Ley and Jesús Hilario-Reyes with Bronze Age, all curated by Sydney Fishman.
BOFFO also commissioned photographer Matt Grubb for the fourth year running to capture BOFFO Performance Festival attendees in his signature style. The concept for the portraits was to "remove the partygoers from the party and to feel like the beach could have instead been nearly empty and quiet," Grubb says.
"This is what has always felt special about the images to me," Grubb tells PAPER. "The spirit of the day, the outfits and drink bracelets and energy, feeling like they got pulled into a void where it is only me and them."
Grubb notes that all four years of portraits have seen the sun rise to a mostly clear sky, despite Fire Island's propensity to storms and fog, lending a sense of continuity to the portrait series over the years. He's even photographed the same people at the same time over multiple years — "like time travel," he says.
"My only rule for the day is that no two images can be exactly the same," Grubb says. "Either lighting or location or color or exposure has to change from person to person. The interactions are very brief for each shoot, sometimes lasting only a minute or two, but it has been one of my great photographic joys to be able to try and capture that energy."
Check out a selection of Grubb's 2024 BOFFO Performance Festival portraits below.
Photography: Matt Grubb
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