Collected Item: “I love cupping my wife's breast in my hand while she fucks me, breasts Jackie has never felt comfortable with. Susie said I could get silicon replacements to stand in. After Luc’s surgery, Susie watched him settle into a confidence that added to her attraction to him. Jackie says she understands my fear. 2025”
Your Name
Lois Bielefeld
Your Pronouns
they/them
Instagram handle, if any
@loisbielefeld
Work Title
I love cupping my wife's breast in my hand while she fucks me, breasts Jackie has never felt comfortable with. Susie said I could get silicon replacements to stand in. After Luc’s surgery, Susie watched him settle into a confidence that added to her attraction to him. Jackie says she understands my fear. 2025
Work Year (We are not accepting images older than 5 years)
2025
[Image Rights] Do you confirm that you hold the rights to this image?
Yes
[Eligibility] The Curve Photo Contest proudly centers and uplifts people who identify as lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer women and nonbinary people. Please share how you self-identify, using language that feels most accurate to you. Feel free to include all intersections of your identity. (Examples: lesbian, trans person of color, Latinx queer woman, radical faery, butch, etc.)
i use several identifiers: lesbian, nonbinary, genderqueer..
[Artist Statement] Tell us more about your photo by sharing a brief artist statement OR answering this prompt: "This is what being ______ means to me..." (Max. 100 words)
This photograph is a part of a larger series about queer chosen family called, "Within the hold of ( )." The term ‘chosen family’ was coined by anthropologist Kath Weston in 1997 in her book, Families We Choose: Lesbians, Gays, Kinship. Her research describes the way queers who banded together shared resources, co-parented children, and supported each other in times of need, notably during the AIDS crisis. Although ‘chosen’ implies freely selected, the reality is some individuals do not have a say in the matter due to biological family rejection. Creating family groups can ensure care, acceptance, belonging, and safety. This also means that individuals can create their own roles and responsibilities rather than relying on hetero-gendered norms. To be clear, chosen families are not utopian. Like biological families, they are complicated and complex. They can exhibit curious residual or persistent power dynamics more consistent with heteronormative family structures. Through collaborative staged photographic tableaux, "within the hold of ( )," illuminates the vibrance of queer chosen family.
[Visual Description] Describe your photo so we can provide alt-text. Example: "Two women holding hands and smiling as they walk in a pride parade, surrounded by rainbow flags."
A theatrically staged interior — red shag carpet, wood paneling, and wallpaper printed with repeating nude figures — sets the scene for two simultaneous acts of intimacy. On the left, a person reclines holding a cable release, on a worn floral sofa surrounded by queer literature, trailing plants, and scattered balloons. At center-right, three figures perform what reads as a ritual of communal care: one person stands elevated on a wooden box, arms out, while two others tend carefully to making a casting/mold of their chest. Between them, a wicker coffee table holds an arrangement of food that feels less like a snack and more like an offering.
[Agreement] In the event that you win the 2026 Curve Photo Contest, do you consent to having your photograph printed for the sole purpose of displaying at The Curve Foundation's one-day event at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (San Francisco, CA) during Lesbian Visibility Week? The Curve Foundation will cover printing costs, but will not cover costs for mailing the print after the event ends.
Yes
[Agreement] Do you consent to The Curve Foundation storing, sharing, and using this image and its description as we deem appropriate, including disseminating on our social media, website, and Curve Archive and Curve Quarterly?
Yes
[Agreement] By checking 'I understand' below, I acknowledge that this contest upholds values of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and I confirm that my submission does not contain anti-LGBTQ+ or other discriminatory, hateful, or exclusionary content.
I understand