The Book
50th anniversary, release spring 2025
The Book
50th anniversary, release spring 2025
50th anniversary, release spring 2025
50th anniversary, release spring 2025
In 1976, Miss Teri Warren, one of the most respected and established drag queens of Fire Island’s Cherry Grove, traveled to the nearby Fire Island Pines with friends for a leisurely dinner at the Botel. It was a shock when Botel owner John Whyte asked them to leave because his establishment was a "family" restaurant. Outraging Cherry Grove residents, this incident only adding to an existing rivalry between the two communities.
Earlier in 1976, Cherry Grove's fundraising organization, the Arts Project, had crowned their first Homecoming Queen, Panzi. It was a role designed to promote local activities and embellish the camp for which the Grove was famous for. On July 4th, 1976, Panzi and friends decided to take action against the discrimination towards one of their own. Inspired by the United States Bicentennial and the celebratory flotilla in New York’s Hudson River, Panzi called her friends to arms and “invade" the Pines.
During a busy Tea Dance at the Botel, a crowd of over a thousand people stood witness as nine residents of Cherry Grove, all in various forms of drag, were led by Panzi on a hired water taxi into the harbor of the Pines. The small boat proudly blew its horn as Queen Panzi stood waving from the rear and all on deck sang “God Bless America.” While John Whyte remained appalled, the patrons of the Botel went wild. Panzi and her cohorts were brought to the top floor of the Botel where she proceeded to “bless” the harbor.
Given the rousing success of their first outing, the Invasion happened the following year of 1977 on an even larger scale. Once an act of defiance, the Invasion cemented itself as a beloved Fire Island tradition.
Anderson Zaca is a photographer and filmmaker who lives and works in New York. Originally from São Paulo, Brazil, he relocated to the United States in 1995.
Zaca holds degrees in photography and film production from Brooklyn College. Since completing his education, Zaca has exhibited his work internationally, as well as travel widely for his various photo documentary and commercial projects.
His first publication, Block Party, is a collection of photographs showing street scenes from the block parties found across New York City, a treasured cultural marker of summertime in the city. Zaca is currently working on a screenplay and a subsequent feature film based on Block Party.
His commercial clientele includes companies and publications like Nike, Budweiser, Neiman Marcus, Spotify, Renault, Samsung, Rolling Stone, and The Economist. In 2018, he was awarded Best Fashion Photographer by the Visual Arts Press Awards.
The making of INVASION Fire Island.
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The book, Invasion, is expected to be the main reference book for the 50 years of this historic, cultural milestone. As a continuation of Stonewall, the Invasion remains a pillar of the protest and resistance in the fight for a better world.
Shot in rich black and white with a medium format film camera, Invasion is a body of work that is in line with a long lineage of photography while also feeling utterly new and contemporary. Zaca’s images have a crispness that brings to life the details of each of these scenes: the ribbons of a corset, the sheen of a sequin, the crackle of heavy makeup. Zaca shows people full of beautifully weird contradictions. Both absurd and sophisticated, campy and dignified, wild and serene, these photographs illustrate a uniquely American tradition with nuance and grace.
Check out how to get involved in the making of this generation's work of art and contribute to creating the most iconic collection of images from the Invasion of the Pines.
Invasion Fire Island
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