Bound together: Leather, sex, archives, and contemporary art

Rethinking Art's Histories

by Andy Campbell

What are the archives of gay and lesbian leather histories, and how have contemporary artists mined these archives to create a queer politics of the present? This book sheds light on an area long ignored by traditional art history and LGBTQ studies, examining the legacies of the visual and material cultures of US leather communities. It discusses the work of contemporary artists such as Patrick Staff, Dean Sameshima, Monica Majoli, AK Burns and AL Steiner, and the artist collective Die Kränken, showing how archival histories and contemporary artistic projects might be applied in a broader analysis of LGBTQ culture and norms. Hanky codes, blurry photographs of Tom of Finland drawings, a pin sash weighted down with divergent histories – these become touchstones for writing leather histories.

Genres: Nonfiction, LGBT

420 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 9, 2020

Reviews

[Florian Oscar Hynam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly interesting selection of works discussed and very insightful commentary. I've reccomended this book to quite a few people.

[miles frad · Rating 3 out of 5]

having no indepth discussion of the aesthetics of nazism/fascism & how it relates to leather communities (especially tom of finlands work) is insane.