Repositioning Queer Modernism: Men’s Fashion Photography and the Production of New Gay Subjectivities

The production of men’s fashion photography is given a conceptual and practical framework in this thesis, establishing it as a vehicle for queer political ideas. In order to do this, it establishes connections between the historical and cultural contexts, themes and techniques of modernist gay figurative art and shows how these are used by contemporary artists and fashion photographers (such as Steven Klein, Alasdair McLellan and Willy Vanderperre) to shape and influence queer narratives of gay self and subjectivity. The study takes into account how style and fashion, when combined with class-based conceptions of masculinity, further express social identity and its performance as a commodity. The thesis focuses on several process-driven ethical issues associated to the creative production of photographic artwork in the context of cultural institutions such as art and fashion in order to contextualise this work and clarify the project’s photography-based technique. It puts together a selection of photos and related essays that emphasise diversity and identity politics that were developed during a career spanning eighteen years. In order to grasp and convey the researchcreation aspects of my practice, the overall study articulates my ongoing engagement with the idea of art making as a means of enabling social awareness through my work in the figurative arts across three photographic genres: documentary, portrait and fashion. The thesis offers fresh perspective on the sexual politics of masculinity in the domains of photographic studies and masculinity studies. It makes a case for the significance of approach in relation to modern and current figurative gay art. The thesis examines contemporary men’s fashion photography through discourse analysis, portraying it as an evolving area of research. It makes recommendations for how modern men’s fashion photography may be conceptualised as a radical new political genre of photography and activated as a form of social critique.

Access to this this thesis is restricted. Please contact UAL Research Online for more information.