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The enduring appeal of the human face, particularly in response to death and mourning, has long been noted by critics of photography. Within the art world, the past five years has seen a marked return to older models of portrait photography, particularly those taken by gay photographers in the wake of the AIDS epidemic. Looking critically at this emerging canon of queer photography, Liz Kotz will examine what has been termed the “rehabilitation of sentiment” in contemporary gay art. Taking off from her previous work on contemporary photography and gay representation, her presentation will examine the politically motivated return to seemingly outdated Modernist projects of portraiture and subcultural documentation; looking at works by Nan Goldin, Jack Pierson, Catherine Opie, and others.

Kotz is pursuing a PhD in comparative literature at Columbia University. She earned a BA in humanities from Stanford University and an MA in English from Columbia University.