Curator Jonathan Katz Talks About Some Of The Women Artist at Hide/Seek

“Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture” was on view at the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, USA, from October 30 through February 13, 2011. Jonathan Katz, co-curator of Hide/Seek talks about works by queer artists Catherine Opie, Lucas Samaras, Deborah Kass, and Christopher Makos. He looks at how these artists questioned the gender divide in American and suggests a fluidity and interchangeability of gender, which puts pressure on the gender divide, which upholds a homophobic society.

About Jonathan Katz
Jonathan D. Katz is director of the doctoral program in visual studies at the State University of New York—Buffalo; an honorary research faculty member at the University of Manchester, UK; co-curator of the exhibition ―Hide/Seek‖; and co-author of its accompanying book. He was founding director of the Larry Kramer Initiative for Lesbian and Gay Studies at Yale University and founding chair of the very first department of lesbian and gay studies in the United States, at City College of San Francisco. Here, he also co-founded the activist group Queer Nation, San Francisco, and founded both the Queer Caucus of the College Art Association and the Harvey Milk Institute.

Related Links
‘Hide/Seek Exhibition At The Smithsonian, USA’, post about the exhibition and the catalog
The Hide/Seek website