AIDS and Representation: Queering Portraiture during the AIDS Crisis in America (Library of Modern and Contemporary Art)

"AIDS & Representation explores portraits and self-portraits made by artists in response to the AIDS epidemic in America in the 1980s and 1990s. Addressing the work of artists including Mark Morrisroe, Robert Blanchon and Felix Gonzalez-Torres through the interrelated themes of sickness and mortality, desire and sexual identity, love and loss, Fiona Johnstone shows how the self-representational practices of artists with HIV and AIDS offered a richly imaginative response to the limitations of early AIDS imagery. Johnstone argues that the AIDS epidemic changed the very nature of visual representation and artistic practice, necessitating a radical new approach to conceptualising and visualising the human form. An extended epilogue considers the ongoing art historicization of the epidemic, re-contextualising the book's themes in relation to contemporary photographic works. More than just a historical discussion of the art of the AIDS crisis, AIDS and Representation contributes to an emergent body of scholarship on the visual representation of illness. Expanding the established genre of the autopathography or illness narrative beyond the predominantly textual, this important contribution to art history and the medical humanities sensitively unpicks the entanglements between aesthetic form and the expression of lived experiences of critical and chronic ill health"-- Provided by publisher AIDS & Representation explores portraits and self-portraits made in response to the AIDS epidemic in America in the 1980s and 1990s. Addressing the work of artists including Mark Morrisroe, Robert Blanchon and Felix Gonzalez-Torres through the interrelated themes of sickness and mortality, desire and sexual identity, love and loss, Fiona Johnstone shows how the self-representational practices of artists with HIV and AIDS offered a richly imaginative response to the limitations of early AIDS imagery. Johnstone argues that the AIDS epidemic changed the very nature of visual representation and artistic practice, necessitating a radical new approach to conceptualising and visualising the human form. An extended epilogue considers the ongoing art historicization of the epidemic, re-contextualising the book's themes in relation to contemporary photographic works. More than just a historical discussion of the art of the AIDS crisis, AIDS and Representation contributes to an emergent body of scholarship on the visual representation of illness. Expanding the established genre of the autopathography or illness narrative beyond the predominantly textual, this important contribution to art history and health humanities sensitively unpicks the entanglements between aesthetic form and the expression of lived experiences of critical and chronic ill health. 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 AIDS and Representation, 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. Addressing themes of sickness, mortality, desire, sexual identity, love and loss, this is an important contribution to both queer and art history. 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 Representing AIDS, 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 Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Contents List of figures Acknowledgements Introduction Chapter 1: A crisis of representation: Constructing an epidemic Chapter 2: Putting a face to AIDS: Critiquing documentary portrait photography Chapter 3: Mark Morrisroe: A grandiose aesthetic encounter Chapter 4: Robert Blanchon: Abjection, ‘absence’ and autobiography Chapter 5: Felix Gonzalez-Torres: Falling out of time Chapter 6: Epilogue: In/visible: Picturing HIV in ‘endemic time’ Notes Bibliography Index