For as long as there were radiant babies, there were barking dogs.ÌýDogs and dog-human hybrids feature prominently in Keith Haring’s subway drawings, and in collages, sketches, and badge designs made after Haring moved to New York in 1978. WhileÌýhisÌýdogs are often interpreted as universal symbols of resistance and protection, barking to call out general social injustice, the politically-charged status of both dogs and gay men in New York City in thisÌýperiodÌýsuggests that something more complex, and geographically and culturally specific, is at play in Haring’s use of canine imagery.ÌýPublic anxiety about the number of dogs in New York City, and their potential for spreading disease and disorder, exploded in the 1970s, fuelled by racism, sanitation strikes,ÌýandÌýgentrification.ÌýPublic health campaigns in the city advocated for taxes for dog owners and for citizens to clean up after their dogs or face steep fines.ÌýDog waste activist Fran Lee urged New Yorkers to think of ‘children beforeÌý»å´Ç²µ²õ’.ÌýThe heteronormative subtext of Lee’s campaign was not lost on many queer New Yorkers; it echoed contemporaneous homophobic public discourse around gay sex and venereal disease, sparked by the increasing visibility of gay liberation movements. This fear of contagion preceded the AIDS epidemic, but informed public anxiety about that later crisis.ÌýAt the same time,Ìýurban animalÌýimagery, including work with dogs,Ìýwas appearing in several downtown New York artists, including David Wojnarowicz,ÌýJenny Holzer,Ìýand Martin Wong. Their dogs wereÌýqueerÌýemblems of resistance,Ìýplaying with and challengingÌýthis dominant narrative of fear and contagion.ÌýReadingÌýHaring’sÌýcanineÌýwork inÌýthis cultural and critical context,ÌýthisÌýtalkÌýexploresÌýwhatÌýthisÌýproliferating dog imagery can tell us aboutÌýqueer desire andÌýurbanÌýalienation,Ìýthe brutalÌýdehumanisationÌýof queer people in the city in this period,Ìýand the imaginative modes of kinship that it produced.Ìý
Dr Fiona AndersonÌýisÌýSenior Lecturer in Art History in the Fine Art department at Newcastle University. Her work explores LGBTQ+ social and sexual cultures and art from the 1970s to the present with a particular interest in gentrification, preservation, and the politics of urban space, mostly in the USA and the UK. She is the author ofÌýCruising the Dead River: David Wojnarowicz andÌýNew York’s Ruined WaterfrontÌý(University of Chicago Press,Ìý2019).ÌýFrom 2016-2019, she was UK PI forÌý​Cruising the Seventies: Unearthing Pre-HIV/AIDS QueerÌýSexual CulturesÌý(CRUSEV), a collaborative research project whichÌýexplored LGBTQ social and sexual cultures of the 1970s and their significance for LGBTQ+ people and queer artmaking across Europe in the present.
Organised by Professor David Peters Corbett (The Courtauld)Ìý
