Martinez’s glittering image of a foamy beach evokes the mythology of Fire Island, a place he calls "a living memorial, a sacred space, a state of mind." Since the 1960s, the barrier island off the coast of Long Island, New York, has served as a haven of liberated gay life, especially in the summer months.

During Fire Island’s cultural heyday in the 1970s, Martinez was growing up in Florida. The patches of silver leaf delicately applied to the surface of this photograph give it a shimmering quality, suggesting an imagined experience of this revered site across space and time.