Semester of Graduation

Fall 2022

Degree

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Art History

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

The queer body– describes the sum of assumptions and biases attributed to queer people, whereby a person’s own queer identity or expression is overshadowed by the generalizations, (mis)perceptions, and stereotypes that society imposes on that individual. Central to the scope of this thesis is the reality whereby the ostracization of queer people involves the association between the very body of the queer person with sexual acts deemed both deviant and immoral by a cis-heteronormative society. Society renders the queer body as pejoratively deviant simply on the basis of its existence alone, where any form of varied gender or sexual expression is viewed as damaging to preestablished societal values and norms. There is a relationship between the queer body and post-modern photography from the 1980s and early 90s, which illustrates the implications of subtext on an artist's work, the dichotomy of pornography and fine art, objectification, and fetishization, government censorship of ‘obscene’ works and body taboo as a subversive tool used by queer artists who sought to disrupt the status quo of a heteronormative society bent on continued ostracization of queer people and queer subject matter from public display.

Date

8-16-2022

Committee Chair

Young, Allison

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_theses.5652

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