Art History alumnus Andy Campbell (MA, 2006; Ph.D., 2012) currently serves as an assistant professor of Critical Studies at USC Roski School of Art and Design and his new book, Queer X Design, will be published by Black Dog & Leventhal, an imprint of Hachette Book Group.
Campbell’s research, teaching and practice focus on identity-based politics of sexuality, queerness, race, and feminism, addressing how these movements manifest themselves in visual culture. In his doctoral dissertation at UT Austin, "Bound Together: Being-with Gay and Lesbian Leather Communities and Visual Cultures, 1966-1984"; he elucidated how gay and lesbian leather communities, in the years between 1966 and 1984, contested and expanded fungible notions of sex, community, and history, mostly through material and visual cultures.
Queer X Design expands upon his interests in an illustrated history of “the iconic designs, symbols, and graphic art representing more than 5 decades of LGBTQ pride and activism–from the evolution of Gilbert Baker’s rainbow flag to the NYC Pride typeface launched in 2017 and beyond.”
Organized by decade beginning with Pre-Liberation and then spanning the 1970s through the millennium, QUEER X DESIGN will be an empowering, uplifting, and colorful celebration of the hundreds of graphics - from shapes and symbols to flags and iconic posters-that have stood for the powerful and ever-evolving LGBTQ movement over the last five-plus decades. Included in the collection will be everything from Gilbert Baker’s original rainbow flag, ACT-UP’s Silence = Death poster, the AIDS quilt, and Keith Haring’s “Heritage of Pride” logo, as well as the original Lavender Menace t-shirt design, logos such as “The Pleasure Chest,” protest buttons such as “Anita Bryant Sucks Oranges,” and so much more. Sidebars throughout will cover important visual grouping such as a “Lexicon of Pride Flags,” explaining the now more than a dozen flags that represent segments of the community and the evolution of the pink triangle.