Title
Date of Award
Fall 1-5-2020
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Departments/Programs
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