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My name is Peter Flannery
and I am a student in the Art History and Visual Culture
masters program at the University of Guelph
My research looks to uncover the histories that have
been marginalized and hidden in the past,
in terms of art, as well as the social and
political issues of gay liberation
and the HIV/AIDS crisis
 in the 1970's and 80's
with a particular focus on the art and
 cultural productions of that period
and the impact that they had in developing
queer identities in the period,
as well as fighting for rights and representation
and responding to the HIV/AIDS crisis
and the stigma associated with it.
The cultural productions that I will be looking at are
mostly art produced in the period,
as well as print culture, things like the Body Politic,
the gay and lesbian newspaper that 
was based in Toronto at the time,
as well as looking at more aspects of visual culture
like the posters, T-shirts and other sorts of gay liberation
and HIV/AIDs things that were distributed at the time
It seems that in recent years there has been kind of a
fading from the public consciousness of these issues
as HIV/AIDS isn't really seen as something
as important as it was in the peak of the crisis
but these are continuing issues
especially around indigenous communities where
 rights are disproportionately higher,
transphobia, homophobia and oppression
 kind of throughout Canada,
As well as relationships between police
 forces and queer communities.
My research would improve life by providing a look at
 the history as well as opportunities  then to
apply these same activist and cultural responses moving
forward to achieve the rights and representation.
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