The fabric of resistance: care, domestic objects, and HIV self-narratives in the work of Kia LaBeija and Jessica Whitbread

Since the 1980s, queer women have held a precarious position in HIV/AIDS discourse, often invisible or positioned in caring roles for others living with HIV. The voices of queer women who are themselves HIV-positive have been largely
unrepresented. In this article, we examine artworks by Kia LaBeija and Jessica Whitbread, contemporary artists who explicitly draw on their experiences as queer HIV-positive women. We trace the appearance of material objects of home
in their artworks, and how pleasure, love, and care are imbricated in and through domestic objects, spaces, and practices. Reading Whitbread’s and LaBeija’s work together draws attention to the potent and political role of the domestic objects, textures, and fabrics in the telling and reframing of stories about HIV-positive queer women’s lives. We argue that Whitbread’s and LaBeija’s art offers new visual resources that help frame and orient the experiences of queer HIV-positive women beyond the biomedical.