Date of Award
Spring 6-1-2021
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Department
Photography
First Advisor
Alex Strada
Second Advisor
Ariel Goldberg
Third Advisor
Mark McKnight
Abstract
In “Becoming a Precipice,” I am analyzing queer cruising areas as psychological landscapes from a queer, non-binary perspective, counter to heteronormative conventions. These landscapes are important to me, as being a full participant in this culture is my main form of sexual interaction. My inquiry is prompted by the need to interpret how this specific form of desire molds itself into visceral responses and manifestations of performative masculinity. Entering the cruising landscape itself increases awareness and intensifies the senses, in a space where signals become critical in determining transactions with other individuals beyond spoken language. These somatic reactions are uniquely felt through the queer, mostly gay male, bodies that enter them knowingly. Individuals become simultaneously hunter and prey as they pursue a release for their desires. There is an inherent danger within cruising that adds to the sexual thrill of these acts, but are mostly overridden by vulnerability of fleeting sexual desire. By photographing cruising landscapes and their inhabitants, I examine the theories of utopia addressed by José Esteban Muñoz as well as examining the transformative theory of heterotopias by Michel Foucault.
Recommended Citation
DeVille, Chance, "Becoming a precipice: the liminality of queer cruising" (2021). Masters Theses. 695.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/695
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Comments
View exhibition online: Chance DeVille, Becoming a Precipice