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.
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.
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University: Concordia University
Citation: Beck, Maegan E. "Transcending Beyond the 'Detectable': Queer Mourning, Memory, and Futurity in Eric Rhein's Lifelines." Masters thesis, Concordia University, 2024.
"Transcending Beyond the Detectable: Queer Mourning, Memory, and Futurity in Eric Rhein's Lifelines"
Academia Master's Thesis
Concordia University May 2024
