Manlik, Kate, Simon, Jane, and Matthews, Nicole (2023) The Fabric of Resistance: Care, Domestic Objects, and HIV Self-Narratives in the Work of Kia LaBeija and Jessica Whitbread. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 48 (3). pp. 683-707.

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Abstract

Since the 1980s, queer women have held a precarious position in HIV/AIDS discourse, often invisible or positioned in caring roles for others living with HIV. The voices of queer women who are themselves HIV-positive have been largely unrepresented. In this article, we examine artworks by Kia LaBeija and Jessica Whitbread, contemporary artists who explicitly draw on their experiences as queer HIV-positive women. We trace the appearance of material objects of home in their artworks, and how pleasure, love, and care are imbricated in and through domestic objects, spaces, and practices. Reading Whitbread’s and LaBeija’s work together draws attention to the potent and political role of the domestic objects, textures, and fabrics in the telling and reframing of stories about HIV-positive queer women’s lives. We argue that Whitbread’s and LaBeija’s art offers new visual resources that help frame and orient the experiences of queer HIV-positive women beyond the biomedical.

Item ID:	85437
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1545-6943
Copyright Information:	© 2023 The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.
Date Deposited:	13 May 2025 01:26
FoR Codes:	36 CREATIVE ARTS AND WRITING > 3601 Art history, theory and criticism > 360101 Art criticism @ 20% 44 HUMAN SOCIETY > 4405 Gender studies > 440506 Sexualities @ 60% 44 HUMAN SOCIETY > 4410 Sociology > 441011 Sociology of health @ 20%
SEO Codes:	13 CULTURE AND SOCIETY > 1301 Arts > 130103 The creative arts @ 50% 20 HEALTH > 2099 Other health > 209999 Other health not elsewhere classified @ 50%
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