Professor Stuart McKee
Design Program, Dept. of Art + Architecture
University of San Francisco
During the summer of 2024, I began research
on an exhibition endeavor that I am calling Queer Subjectivities in History. This project features
a series of banners that present individuals from history who can be identified as conforming
to particular gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender sexualities. It is the goal of this project to “queer,” or to undermine, the notion of public education
by situating potentially controversial information pertaining to these sexualities within a prominent public venue, to support a correction in the
ways in which sexual diversity can be made factual and salient. If we consider the prevalence of individuals who presented themselves as having an intermediary sex or gender within Western history, for example, the frequency suggests that an underlying bigotry has impeded the public’s awareness of sexuality in contemporary society. The initial installation of six banners, which featured the subjectivities biawacheeitchish, faggot, khadīm, kizlar ağa, sapphist, and wakashu, appeared in the University of San Francisco’s Faculty Triennial exhibition during March and April of 2026. I now have thirteen different banners complete, and will begin searching for a second exhibition venue when the total reaches twenty.
Queer Subjectivities
in History
Professor Stuart McKee
Design Program, Dept. of Art + Architecture
University of San Francisco
During the summer of 2024, I began research on an exhibition endeavor that I am calling Queer Subjectivities
in History. This project features a series of banners that present individuals from history who can be identified
as conforming to particular gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender sexualities. It is the goal of this project to “queer,” or to undermine, the notion of public education
by situating potentially controversial information pertaining to these sexualities within a prominent public venue, to support a correction in the ways in which sexual diversity can be made factual and salient. If we consider the prevalence of individuals who presented themselves
as having an intermediary sex or gender within Western history, for example, the frequency suggests that an underlying bigotry has impeded the public’s awareness
of sexuality in contemporary society. The initial installation of six banners, which featured the identities biawacheeitchish, faggot, khadīm (see below), kizlar ağa, sapphist, and wakashu, appeared in the University of San Francisco’s Faculty Triennial exhibition during March and April of 2026. To view these, you can visit the Queer Subjectivities
website while using a desktop computer. I now have thirteen different banners complete, and will begin searching for a new exhibition venue when the total reaches twenty.
Niknam Khan [sic], painting on paper from an album of Persian portraits, ca. 1685. Courtesy of the British Museum, number 1974,0617,0.4.40. RFM1130 ncq.
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