Everything All At Once by Bettina Rheims

Bettina Rheims, born in France in 1952, is a contemporary fine art and commercial photographer known for her portrayals of the nude body and her exploration and transformation of ideas about femininity, the male gaze, sexuality, and power in her work.

The twelve images in Bettina Rheims: Everything All At Once come from the Modern Lovers and Espionnes series created by Rheims between 1989 and 1991. Shot in London and Paris at the height of the AIDS crisis, these photographs were her first large-scale explorations of gender identity. The androgyny of her subjects resists and subverts the rigid gender stereotypes prevalent in society, forcing us to focus on the physical and human details of each person in front of us as they have chosen to embody themselves.

This exhibition travels to the World Erotic Art Museum (WEAM) in Miami Beach, a museum well-known and beloved for its beautiful and provocative exhibitions. This will be the first time these works will be shown in Miami, and both Kinsey and WEAM are thrilled to be able to present these timely and impactful works at a time when the rights of LGBTQIA+ people are under attack.

—Rebecca Fasman, Curator, Kinsey Institute Indiana University

“My first encounter with Bettina Rheims’ work goes back to a group exhibition in 1993 at the Kunstverein Frankfurt. This show made clear that Bettina was one of our era’s most important artistic personalities. Countless museum exhibitions in the world’s major museums repeatedly confirmed this impression in the years that followed.

I am proud to be able to show Bettina Rheims’ work at WEAM. This exhibition is the fourth collaboration between our museum and the Kinsey Institute and continues our successful partnership with Rebecca Fasman, the institute’s curator.

​—Helmut Schuster, Director, WEAM