Date of Award
Fall 1-5-2020
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Department
Art
First Advisor
Reiner Leist
Second Advisor
Lisa Corinne Davis
Academic Program Adviser
Lisa Corinne Davis
Abstract
For the project, I invited friends, lovers, and mentors to share their experiences and memories of cruising in public spaces. Growing up in China, I never had the chance to publicly discuss my concerns with my sexuality, and the sense of liberation in the West had always served as a source of hope. Only after I came to the United States, did I realize that the liberation was nothing more than an illusion. I made two road trips across America to take photographs and embrace a sense of freedom, but on the trips, I ended up having sex with many closeted gay men that I found on dating apps and gay campgrounds and bathhouses. There was no consolation in the social liberal sense of being gay. After a long period of being depressed and confused, I came to realize that assimilation is not acceptance. Current pragmatic gay politics made a cheap deal with the mainstream culture and it failed in recognizing an ecstatic future, a utopic vision that is based on a queer past.
Recommended Citation
Zheng, Xuan, "Promiscuous Waves" (2020). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/hc_sas_etds/542