AIDS and Representation - Queering Portraiture during the AIDS Crisis in America

How might artists choose to represent themselves before their own death? What visual language can possibly convey the experience of living with a stigmatic and life-threatening condition that was misunderstood and a source of hysterical fear and revulsion? How might an artist respond to the loss of a loved one under such circumstances, and how can art transform private grief into an act of political engagement?In , Fiona Johnstone argues that the epidemic necessitated a radical new approach to conceptualising and visualising the human body. In the early years of the crisis the photographic portrait emerged as the predominant response and established the normative imagery of AIDS `victims' and `heroes'. In response, the artists explored in this book, such as Nan Goldin, David Wojnarowicz and Felix Gonzalez-Torres offered a more nuanced consideration of their own condition and that of others. They rejected stereotypical direct depiction to produce imaginative self-portraits that constituted profoundly moving personal narratives and penetrating critiques into the visual politics of an epidemic.

Product details

• Authors: Fiona Johnstone, Fiona (Middlesex University Johnstone, Johnstone Fiona
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.12.2019
• EAN: 9781788311885
• ISBN: 978-1-78831-188-5
• No. of pages: 264
• Dimensions: 162 mm x 236 mm x 20 mm
• Series: Library of Modern and Contemporary Art
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Art > General, dictionaries; ART / Art & Politics, Art & design styles: from c 1960, Gay Studies (Gay Men), Portraits in art, Hiv / Aids: Social Aspects, HEALTH & FITNESS / Diseases & Conditions / AIDS & HIV