Unruly rubber: Brenton heath-kerr’s costume and the queer agency of latex

Lawrence, B

Unruly rubber: Brenton heath-kerr’s costume and the queer agency of latex

Lawrence, B

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Publisher:: Intellect
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Critical Studies in Men's Fashion, 2023, 10, (1), pp. 111-126
Issue Date:: 2023-04-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Lawrence, B
dc.date.accessioned	2024-01-31T22:37:00Z
dc.date.available	2024-01-31T22:37:00Z
dc.date.issued	2023-04-01
dc.identifier.citation	Critical Studies in Men's Fashion, 2023, 10, (1), pp. 111-126
dc.identifier.issn	2050-070X
dc.identifier.issn	2050-0718
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/175155
dc.description.abstract	Brenton Heath-Kerr was a performance artist living and working in Sydney, Australia, who died of AIDS-related complications at the age of 33 in 1995. Heath-Kerr designed, wore and staged interventions in disruptive costumes in the Sydney nightlife of his time. Grappling with declining health, his designs came to address his own mortality, exemplified by an intervention in the now unwearable costume ‘Self Portrait in Latex’ (1994). Rubber objects trouble the archival project, becoming ‘vulnerable’ or ‘unruly’ under different systemic conditions. ‘Unruly rubber’ considers the queer-ecological dimensions of latex, its material affinities in Heath-Kerr’s designs, in kink ecologies and in fashion more generally. Drawing from a framework of new materialism and queer theory, beside qualitative visual analysis, the argument proceeds with attention to archives, ephemera and the anecdote. ‘Unruly rubber’ asserts the agency of latex in queer assemblages, which continues to enact with and upon human design, desire and experience today.
dc.language	en
dc.publisher	Intellect
dc.relation.ispartof	Critical Studies in Men's Fashion
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1386/csmf_00069_1
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess
dc.subject	1203 Design Practice and Management, 1905 Visual Arts and Crafts, 2002 Cultural Studies
dc.subject.classification	3303 Design
dc.subject.classification	4405 Gender studies
dc.title	Unruly rubber: Brenton heath-kerr’s costume and the queer agency of latex
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	10
utslib.for	1203 Design Practice and Management
utslib.for	1905 Visual Arts and Crafts
utslib.for	2002 Cultural Studies
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building/School of Design
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access	*
dc.date.updated	2024-01-31T22:36:58Z
pubs.issue	1
pubs.publication-status	Published
pubs.volume	10
utslib.citation.issue	1

Abstract:

Brenton Heath-Kerr was a performance artist living and working in Sydney, Australia, who died of AIDS-related complications at the age of 33 in 1995. Heath-Kerr designed, wore and staged interventions in disruptive costumes in the Sydney nightlife of his time. Grappling with declining health, his designs came to address his own mortality, exemplified by an intervention in the now unwearable costume ‘Self Portrait in Latex’ (1994). Rubber objects trouble the archival project, becoming ‘vulnerable’ or ‘unruly’ under different systemic conditions. ‘Unruly rubber’ considers the queer-ecological dimensions of latex, its material affinities in Heath-Kerr’s designs, in kink ecologies and in fashion more generally. Drawing from a framework of new materialism and queer theory, beside qualitative visual analysis, the argument proceeds with attention to archives, ephemera and the anecdote. ‘Unruly rubber’ asserts the agency of latex in queer assemblages, which continues to enact with and upon human design, desire and experience today.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/175155