Envisioning bodily difference: refiguring fat and lesbian subjects in contemporary art and visual culture, 1968-2009

Unrestricted Envisioning Bodily Difference: Refiguring Fat and Lesbian Subjects in Contemporary Art and Visual Culture, 1968-2009 focuses on both lesbian and fat subjects in multiple forms of visual representation over the past forty years in the United States. Nearly all of the individuals imaged in the representations discussed here are self-identified as lesbians and/or queer women. Many of them are fat as well. Many of the representations discussed here were produced within lesbian and fat subcultures, made by those who identify with these communities and who planned to circulate the images within the subculture, whether through journals or newsletters, books, or art galleries. Each set of creators and objects or experiences chosen to be discussed in the sub-sections of the three chapters and conclusion of the dissertation in some way help to negotiate the ways in which fat women and lesbians or queer women have been visualized in the past several decades. More broadly, each has contributed to the ways in which mainstream and/ or subcultural communities have reconceptualized norms about bodily comportment, gender, and sexual expression through visual representation. Along the historical timeline of this dissertation, beginning in 1968 and lasting through 2009, most of the subjects looked at here have been considered deviant or “non-normative” (i.e., female, non-white, disabled, fat, and lesbian subjects) in large part because of body-based identities. Moreover, many have been seen as monstrous, excessive, and dangerous – to themselves and others – because their physical and discursive identities have violated the boundaries of the cultural taste of their time. Embracing these alleged slurs has been one way of disempowering dominant cultural ideology about fatness as a sign of moral weakness, physical laziness and illness, and aesthetic debasement.; The key visual works and texts analyzed here are taken from and contextualized within feminist, lesbian, queer, and fat art making and viewing practices, cultural theories, and activism performed since the late 1960s. Stemming from the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, incipient feminist, lesbian and gay, and fat liberation movements marked a historical shift in which groups previously seen as holding a minority status in United States culture began to define their own objectives for equal rights and desire for recognition as important contributors to American culture.; Issues of visual representation and empowerment, as they intersect with multiple marginalized identities are addressed in this dissertation: How do lesbian, bisexual, and heterosexual female sexualities come to be represented in visual media, including fine art and documentary photography, journals, and performance, and how has this changed since the late 1960s? What is the role of feminist art and politics in the visualization of sexuality and sexual subjects? How are “non-normative” bodies used in such representations? What does the inclusion of lesbian and other female subjects in contemporary art and visual culture tell us about the politics of visibility in multiple forms of media? How and to whom do these varied visual media communicate resistance or conformity with heteronormative and/ or thin body ideals? What is the importance of the differences in meaning produced by the different media and circulation of such imagery and how does each communicate in medium-specific ways?

《无拘无束的身体差异想象：重构1968-2009年当代艺术与视觉文化中的肥胖与女同性恋（lesbian）主体》聚焦美国过去四十余年以来多种视觉表现形式中的女同性恋与肥胖主体。
文中涉及的视觉表现作品里，几乎所有被成像的个体均自我标识为女同性恋（lesbian）者和/或酷儿（queer）女性，其中不少人同时拥有肥胖身份。本研究讨论的诸多视觉作品均诞生于女同性恋与肥胖亚文化（subculture）圈层，由认同这些社群的创作者制作，且计划在亚文化内部传播这些图像——传播渠道涵盖期刊、通讯、书籍或艺术画廊。本学位论文（dissertation）三章及结论各小节中选取的创作者、作品与研究对象，均以各自的方式助力厘清近数十年来肥胖女性与女同性恋/酷儿女性的视觉呈现路径。从更宏观的视角来看，这些作品共同推动了主流与/或亚文化社群通过视觉表现，重新构想关于身体举止、性别与性表达的规范。
沿着本研究1968至2009年的历史时间线，此处考察的多数主体在很大程度上因基于身体的身份认同，被视为越轨或"非规范"群体——即女性、非白人、残障、肥胖与女同性恋主体。此外，由于她们的生理与话语身份逾越了当时的文化审美边界，许多人被视作怪物、过度且危险的存在，对自身与他人皆是如此。接纳这些所谓的污名化标签，正是消解主流文化意识形态的有效路径之一：该意识形态将肥胖视为道德孱弱、身体懒惰与疾病的象征，以及审美层面的贬损。
本文分析的核心视觉作品与文本，均取自20世纪60年代末以来的女性主义、女同性恋、酷儿与肥胖艺术创作与观赏实践、文化理论及行动主义，并置于相应语境中加以阐释。这一脉络植根于20世纪50至60年代的民权运动，早期的女性主义、男女同性恋解放与肥胖解放运动标志着历史转向：此前在美国文化中被视作少数群体的社群，开始为自身界定平等权利的目标，以及作为美国文化重要贡献者获得认可的诉求。
本学位论文探讨了视觉表现与赋权议题，以及它们与多重边缘身份的交汇：女同性恋、双性恋与异性恋女性的性特质如何在视觉媒介中得到呈现？这些媒介涵盖纯艺术、纪实摄影、期刊与表演艺术，自20世纪60年代末以来此类呈现方式又发生了何种变化？女性主义艺术与政治在性与性主体的视觉呈现中扮演了何种角色？"非规范"身体在这类表现中如何被运用？当代艺术与视觉文化中纳入女同性恋与其他女性主体，能为我们理解多种媒介中的可见性政治带来何种启示？这些多样的视觉媒介以何种方式、向谁传递了对异性恋规范（heteronormative）与/或瘦身体理想的反抗或顺从？此类图像的不同媒介与传播路径所产生的意义差异有何重要性？每种媒介又如何以其专属的方式进行意义传递？