Date of Award
5-10-2026
Date Published
June 2026
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Department
Studio Arts
Advisor(s)
Joanna Spitzner
Keywords
LGBTQ+ Studies;Practice-based research;Queer Theory;Visual Art
Subject Categories
Arts and Humanities | Fine Arts
Abstract
My art practice is rooted in the body—its pleasures, longings, limits, and shared vulnerabilities. I work across painting, printmaking, and drawing, utilizing a strategy coined Queer Semioerotics. My process starts with lived experience in queer communities, particularly within nightlife, the Pup Play community, and other intimate spaces of connection. My work traces how desire, memory, and care take visual form through documentation, material play, and modes of denial. These works explore how joy and intimacy continue despite anti-Queer sentiment, social isolation, and state violence. Through gestures of withholding, redaction, and illegibility, the works create openings for longing and recognition rather than closure. Together, my practice honors Queer life as it is felt, remembered, and rehearsed: a world sustained through touch, presence, and longing for greater togetherness.
Access
Open Access
Recommended Citation
Voss, Carl, "CRUISING THE UNSEEN: QUEER SEMIOEROTICS AND THE AESTHETICS OF DENIAL" (2026). Theses - ALL. 1017.
https://surface.syr.edu/thesis/1017
