Abstract

Turning toward the past while propelled by a desire for futurity, this thesis explores the intersections of art and memory in the artwork of American artist and writer, Eric Rhein (b. 1961). Diagnosed with HIV in 1987 at the age of twenty-seven, Rhein’s survivorship affirms the endurance of queer love as well as the perseverance required to navigate a life-changing diagnosis in both a socially and epidemiologically tumultuous terrain. The first section evaluates the importance of the past through lineages of queer representation, contributing to Rhein’s inclination toward self-documentation while additionally laying the foundational framework for activist forces that later permeated the united confrontational response to the AIDS crisis. The second chapter investigates the transformative powers of queer love enlivened through collective manifestations of mourning and activism, highlighting the significance of vulnerability, social contingency, community, and proximity. Finally, the closing chapter draws upon the speculative potentials of queer world-making, both embodied and ephemeral, emphasizing the (non)linearity of queer temporalities. Converging with the contemporary era of undetectability, this thesis critically (re)considers memories versus histories as resistive modalities present in curatorial and institutional settings, permitting the development and bridging the excluded within a utopian architecture saturated with possibility, belonging, and care. Focused centrally on the preservation and celebration of those lost to AIDS-related complications, Rhein’s body of work exists as a living archive, transcending disseminated narratives of loss, proliferating and expanding much like our ever-evolving relationship to HIV and AIDS.