A queer aesthetic: Representations of gender and sexuality in Sadie Lee’s Tomboys and Crossdressers

This article examines a series of paintings created by the artist Sadie Lee. Although these paintings are over twenty years old, their subject matter has salience to continuing debates about the nature of the relationship (if any) between gender and sexuality, and the role of clothing and physical appearance in self-representation, recognition and subjectivity. In focusing on queer women who do not easily fit within the homonormative cultural logics of mainstream lesbian culture, Lee directly challenges and enlarges contemporary understandings of current and historical queer subjectivities and sexualities. Drawing on recent scholarship regarding queer utopian looking practices and emotion, this article seeks to contribute towards ongoing debates about lesbian representation within popular culture by exploring the queer aesthetic of Lee’s paintings. What is ultimately argued is that Lee’s paintings generate an affective experience that offers us with a critical opportunity to disrupt the ‘straight time’ of the mainstream visual canon.