Hope Chest

One of the artistic techniques that I was particularly struck by was the use of newspaper. I thought that I could use this technique to express the differences in the interior and exterior by the type of newspaper / articles. Because homosexuality was something that was hidden I plan to line the interior of the box with articles about gay issues or articles from the Blade newspaper. The outside of the box would be covered in news articles about everyday things- weather, sports, etc- to mask what was not necessarily readily available to the public. Something that I got from the readings was the idea of the separation of the two cultures (heterosexual and homosexual) into communities based on commonality. I would like to represent this with the repetition of the box shape within the original box or by placing a figure, like the target (repetitive circular shape), inside. I would also include a lid, to keep the inside hidden at least initially- until someone gets curious and looks inside. This is something that I think was an issue for Johns and Rauschenberg due to his statement about their embarrassment at being too well known and becoming gossip. During this time it was something to be kept a secret and tucked away- so a lid would represent this.