Socialised Stigma, HIV/AIDS and Altered Gay Male Body Image

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Socialised Stigma, HIV/AIDS and Altered Gay Male Body Image School of Design and Art Deliberate Masquerades: Socialised Stigma, HIV/AIDS and Altered Gay Male Body Image Kim Stanley Medlen This thesis is presented for the Degree of Doctor of Creative Arts of Curtin University of Technology November 2010 Declaration To the best of my knowledge and belief this thesis contains no material previously published by any other person except where due acknowledgement has been made. This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university. …………………………………… .... /.... / 2010 Kim Stanley Medlen ii For Philip iii Abstract Three themes are developed in this exegesis. Firstly, it discusses the conceptual base that informs the creative outcomes of this research. This centres on homo- sexuality, disease, illness and the deliberate masquerades that are often under- taken by HIV-positive Australian homosexual males as a response to socialised stigma. Through these masquerades, they enhance the physicality of their bodies so as to conform to Western cultural perceptions of masculine and healthy body ideals and thus avoid stigma that would otherwise be placed on them. This exploration draws upon theories from sociology to discuss these physical enhancements with an emphasis on the period since the onset of HIV/AIDS in the early 1980s. Secondly, it explores the works of visual artists that comment on the HIV/AIDS pandemic prior to the mid 1990s when no effective long-term treatments were available. Thirdly, it investigates HIV/AIDS-based art produced since the mid 1990s, after long-term treatments became available, and discusses how this work contrasts with the earlier works. Also discussed are the parallels and differences between the body of work that is supported by this exegesis and these other contemporary artworks that address HIV/AIDS issues. iv Table of Contents DECLARATION .................................................................................................. II ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................ IV TABLE OF CONTENTS ..................................................................................... V LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................ VI ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................... IX 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 1 2 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIALISED STIGMA OF HOMOSEXUAL MEN ..................................................................................... 6 Historical and Contemporary Values and Attitudes ............................................ 6 Religious Influences and Intolerances ............................................................... 11 Political Institutions and Discriminatory Law ................................................... 14 HIV/AIDS and the Stigmatisation of Homosexual Men ................................... 18 Media ........................................................................................................... 21 Medicalisation .............................................................................................. 23 3 THE DELIBERATE MASQUERADE ......................................................... 26 Identity and the Masquerade ............................................................................. 27 HIV/AIDS and the Masquerade ........................................................................ 30 The Masculine Masquerade ............................................................................... 32 The Gaze ............................................................................................................ 37 4 ARTISTIC RESPONSES TO HIV/AIDS (1980 – 1994) ............................. 39 Political and Protest Art .................................................................................... 40 Educational Art .................................................................................................. 45 Memorial Art ..................................................................................................... 51 The AIDS Memorial Quilt ................................................................................ 56 5 ARTISTIC RESPONSES TO HIV/AIDS (1995 – 2009) ............................. 61 Contemporary HIV/AIDS-based artists ............................................................ 62 Doctoral Artwork .............................................................................................. 75 Doctoral Exhibition ........................................................................................... 81 6 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................ 84 REFERENCES .................................................................................................... 87 APPENDIX A: THESIS ARTWORKS ............................................................. 94 APPENDIX B: EXHIBITION VIDEO AND PHOTOGRAPHS .................... 99 v List of Figures Fig. 3.1: Buffalo hump. Courtesy hivandhepatitis.com 2005 ............................. 31 Fig. 3.2: Facial Lipodystrophy, „AIDS look‟. Courtesy Touch Cardiology 2005 ...................................................................................................... 32 Fig. 3.3: Cosmetic surgeon advertisement. Courtesy Blue 2002 n.p. ................. 34 Fig. 3.4: Kaposi‟s sarcoma (back). Courtesy In Their Own Words 2006. Karposi‟s sarcoma (chest). Courtesy HIV Web Study 2005 ................ 35 Fig. 3.5: Nude male images. Courtesy 2Blue 2003 n.p. ...................................... 36 Fig. 3.6: Classical Greek sculptures of Aristogeiton and Harmonius. Courtesy Androphile Project 2008 ....................................................... 36 Fig. 4.1: Derek Jarman, Blood 1992, oil on photocopy on canvas. Courtesy Gott 1994 p. 86 ..................................................................................... 41 Fig. 4.2: Frank Moore, Bubblebath 1990, oil on canvas with mixed media, 213×240cm. Courtesy Sperone Westwater 2006 .................................. 42 Fig. 4.3: H.J. Wedge, AIDS 1994, acrylic on water colour paper. Courtesy Gott 1994 p. 151 .................................................................................. 43 Fig. 4.4: Carl Tandatnick, AIDS Virus on White Blood Cell/Grey (Virus) Border 1993, silk-screen ink and paint on canvas. Courtesy Gott 1994 p. 64 ............................................................................................ 44 Fig. 4.5: Brenton Heath-Kerr, Homosapien 1994, laminated photochemical reproductions and cloth. Courtesy Gott 1994 p. 75 .............................. 44 Fig. 4.6: Brenton Heath-Kerr and Peter Elfe, Ken – The Safe Sex Character 1992, laminated cibachrome photographs and cloth. Courtesy Sendziuk 2003 p. 117 ............................................................................ 46 Fig. 4.7: David McDiarmid commissioned by AIDS Council of New South Wales, Some of us get out of it, some of us don‟t. All of us fuck with a condom, every time 1992, offset lithography. Courtesy Gott 1994 p. 154 .................................................................................................... 46 Fig. 4.8: AIDS Action Council ACT (with the assistance of ACT Health), Fuck Safe Shoot Clean 1993, offset lithography. Courtesy Gott 1994 p. 203 ........................................................................................... 47 Fig. 4.9: United Colors of Benetton, AIDS Face 1992. Courtesy United Colors of Benetton: Press Area 2007 .................................................... 48 Fig. 4.10: United Colors of Benetton, HIV Positive Arm 1993. Courtesy United Colors of Benetton: Press Area 2007 ........................................ 48 Fig. 4.11: Commonwealth Department of Human Services and Health & Aboriginal Health Workers of Australia (Queensland), Condoman Says: Don‟t Be Shame Be Game: Use Condoms 1987, silkscreen. Courtesy Sendziuk 2003 plate 13 ......................................................... 49 Fig. 4.12: The „Grim Reaper‟ 1987, NACAIDS/ Grey Advertising. Courtesy Sendziuk 2003 p. 138 ............................................................................ 49 Fig. 4.13: Michele Barker, Lets Fuck 1992. Courtesy Sendziuk 2003 plate 14 .... 50 vi Fig. 4.14: Robert Mapplethorpe, Self Portrait 1988, photograph. Courtesy The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation Inc. 2006 .................................. 52 Fig. 4.15: William Yang, Sadness 1989, slide projection. Courtesy Gott 1994 p. 35-51 ................................................................................................. 53 Fig. 4.16: William Yang, Sadness 1989, slide projection. Courtesy Gott 1994 p. 35-51 ................................................................................................. 54 Fig. 4.17: The Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt n.d. Courtesy In Their Own Words 2006 and Scudder 2010 .................................................... 57 Fig. 4.18: The Berlin Holocaust Memorial. Courtesy architecture.about.com 2010 ...................................................................................................... 58 Fig. 5.1: Keith Perrot, A Future Awaits 2005, photography, 46×38cm. Courtesy The Positive Side 2009 .......................................................... 63 Fig. 5.2: Shayo, Untitled 2006, wooden box, baby bottle,
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