GIA MARIE CARANGI: KNOWN AS GIA
June 3, 2022 - June 30, 2022
“I photographed Gia, a beauty known by many…
but I tried to capture the Gia who was known by few.”
The name Gia evokes many legacies: the first supermodel, a meteoric rise to fame, a dangerous flirtation with drugs, a fall from grace. However, there is more to Gia than the most graphic headlines would suggest, a vibrant girl facing a tumultuous life with boldness and love. It is in this spirit that The Selects presents “Gia Marie Carangi: Known as Gia,” to commemorate Gia’s complexity as well as her widely unrecognized status as the first openly gay model in honor of Pride Month.
This curation features iconic images from Robert Farber’s Bloomingdale’s campaigns in addition to newly released contact sheets. Farber was a staple of high fashion commercial clients such as Bloomingdale’s who admired his painterly photographs and ability to make advertisements look like fine art. Farber approached working with Gia with a different angle than most of his contemporaries, looking to defy her status as a sex symbol by portraying the soft, fun-loving sides of her that were rarely highlighted or shown. Farber’s sensitive, insightful images are the perfect lens into the complexity that lay just beneath the surface of Gia’s public persona and legacy.
