Table Of ContentINTERVENTIONS INTO DISCOURSES OF IDENTITY: 
THE ARTWORK OF KlSS & TELL, SHONAGH ADELMAN 
AND DIANA THORNEYCROFT 
by 
Laura McCoy, B.A.(Hons.), 8-Ed. 
A thesis submitted to 
the Foculty of Graduate Studies and Research 
in partial fulfillrnent of 
the requirements for the degree of 
Master of Arts 
School of Canadian Studies 
Carleton University 
Ottawa. Ontario 
July 28 1997 
O Louro McCoy. 1997
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Carleton University 
"' 
Ottawa, Canada  KIS 5J7 
Thesis contains black  f white 
illustrations which when microfilmed 
may  lose their  significance.  The 
hardcopy of the thesis is available 
upon  request  from  Carleton 
~niversity~ ibrary.
ABSTR ACT 
In this thesis i examine the artwork of a group of coniemporary Canadion 
feminist  artists:  Kiss  &  Tell,  Shonagh  Adelman  and Diana  Thorneycroft.  In 
connection with the work of these artists.  I explore the regulation of sexuolly 
explicit irnogery in Canada, and sexliality itself as  regulation. I identify three 
strategies shored by the artists: the deconstruction of dominant images, the use 
of  performance  and the  method  of  working  collaboratively.  My  anoiysis 
considen the potential interventions into discourses of sexual identity that are 
allowed or encouraged by the artwork. i conclude that artwork such as this can 
play a vital role in altering how we conceive of and act out sexual identities.
ACKNO WLEDGMENTS 
1 would like to thank: 
Mary Louise Adams,  my Thesis  Supervisor. for al1  of  her encouragement and 
assistance with the topic, and for reading and commenthg so usefully on al1 of 
the drafts of the proposal and the thesis. 
Kotherine Arnup for interesthg discussions on sexual identity, and for employing 
me to help in her research. 
My Thesis Support  Group:  Nancy Janovicek and Lori Waserman.  for al1 their 
encouragemeni. for reading many drofts and giving helpfu! feedbock, and for 
letting me know thot I could do it when 1 thought I couldn't. 
My family and friends who always encouraged me and gave much needed 
moral support. 
The  artists: Kiss  & Tell, Shonagh Adelman, and Diana Thorneycroft, for ollowing 
me to reproduce their artwork in this thesis.
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
1l  
iii 
Acknowledgments 
Table of Contents 
List of illustrations  vi 
List of Appendices  viii 
1.  INTRODUCTION  1 
2.  THE WORK OF KlSS & TELL, SHONAGH ADELMAN 
AND DIANA THORNEYCROFT 
3.  THE REGULATION OF SEXUAL REPRESENTATION 
4.  INTERROGATING DISCOURSES OF IDENTITY 
5.  CONCLUSION 
Illustrations 
Appendix 1 
Appendix 2 
Bibliography:  General Works 
Shonagh Adelman 
Kiss & Tell 
Diana Thorneycroft
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
Barbara Kruger 
Unfif/ed{ Your Guze Hits the Side of my Foce), 1 98 1 . 
Kiss & Tell 
Drawhg the Line - lesbian sexuul poh7ic.s on the wull 1 99 1 . 
B/w photograph. 
Kiss & Tell 
Drawing fhe Line - le~bianse  xuolpoh'fics on fhe wull 1 99 1 . 
Blw photograph. 
Kiss & Tell 
Dru whg the Line - lesblan sexuu/poh'fho  n the wull 1 99 1 . 
B/w photogroph. 
Kiss & Tell 
Drawhg fhe Line - lesbien sexuu/poh'fic5o  n fhe wu4 1 99 1. 
B/w photograph. 
Lorna Boschman and Kiss & Tell 
Still from True lnvenions, 1992. 
Video. 
Lorna Boschman and Kiss & Tell 
Sfill from True /nver~ions1, 992. 
Video. 
Shonagh Adelman 
'Expose' from Tele Donna, 1993. 
Blocklight box. 
Shonogh Adelman 
Mosfbafk 1993. 
Computer generated cibachrome print. 
Shonagh Adelman 
Cunibud 7 993. 
Corn puter generated cibachrome print . 
Shonagh Adelmon 
Plast/;s,1  99 3. 
Computer generated cibachrome orint.
1 2. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS (continued) 
13.  Shonagh Adelmon 
Groscunf , 1 993. 
Cornputer generated cibachrome print. 
1 4.  Diona Thorneycroft 
Untit/ed /Fih Bn'de), 1 9 9 2. 
Silver print  . 
15.  Diona Thorneycroft 
Untitied (Fib Bnndes,)  1 9 9 2. 
Silver print. 
1 6.  Diano Thorneycroft 
Untited (fiore),1  99 2. 
Silver prinf. 
17.  Diana Thorneycroft 
Untifled /TwW  1 993. 
Silver print . 
18.  Diono Thorneycroft 
Untifed /Mutruska Dolu, 1 993. 
Silver print . 
vii
LIST OF APPENDICES 
APPENDIX 1:  Canodiun Crimino/ Code,S ection 1 63. 
APPENDIX 2:  Canadian Chorfer of Righf s und Freedoms, 
Sections 1,  2,  15 and 28.
CHAPTER I 
INTRODUCTlON 
Art  threatens  not only  because it  is  a spoce that re-presents cultvre;  it also 
embodies the sphere in which change tokes place 
- 
Beavis 1996:32 
In this thesis, i will focus on a group of Conadion artists who are creating 
imager/  thot  responds  to  their  own  desires.  artists  who  ore  reclaiming 
representations of women (of themselves) and infusing them with  specifically 
feminist and personal meanings. In pursuing these ends. the artists use a vonety 
of  strategies,  including  the  deconstruction  of  dominant  visual  codes, 
collaboration, performance and explorations of penonal experience. Through 
their work the artists challenge the regulatory categories that control discourses 
of sexuolity in Canadion society at the present tirne. 
The artists who  1  will consider in this  thesis  are: Kiss  & Tell,  a lesbian art 
collective from Vancouver. made up of Penimmon Blackbridge. Susan Stewart 
and Lizard Jones: Shonagh Adelman. a Toronto/New York artist and curator; and 
Diana Thorneycroft. an ortist from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Ail of these artists create 
work that engages with discussions of sexuality. the regulotion of sexuality and its 
relation to constructions of sexuol identity. 
In our society art is a somewhot marginal form of expression compared to, 
for instance. advertising. Far fewer people will ever see the work of these artists 
thon will see any Hollywood movie, or on issue of  Peop/e MugoUne. While this in
Description:électronique. The author .. viewer a three-minute recording of phone sex or a sexual story is heard. While a . pearls, large breasts and the crotch shot. This may include the maintenance and reproduction of the status quo.