Fire Island Polaroids

Made during Robert Andy Coombs’ 2022 BOFFO residency in Fire Island Pines, these Polaroids document friends, lovers, chance encounters, and the island’s landscape. Affection, desire, leisure, and caregiving unfold together in a personal account of his time there. 

The series engages with Fire Island’s history as a refuge for gay men, while drawing attention to the barriers that shape access to its spaces. In dialogue with Tom Bianchi’s Polaroids, Coombs contributes his own perspective as a wheelchair user to the island’s photographic legacy. His photographs explore how care and intimacy make room for connection and belonging. 

Robert Andy Coombs is a photographer whose work explores disability, sexuality, relationships, and care. Raised in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, he received his BFA in photography from Kendall College of Art and Design in 2013 and graduated from Yale School of Art in 2020. He was a BOFFO resident on Fire Island in 2022.