- What does it mean to be an LGBTQ artist?
- How do the identities of artists influence their work?
- How can art deepen our understanding of other identities and experiences?
- How have queer artists changed the way we see the world?
- How can students use art to deepen understanding and inspire change?
- Recognize key LGBTQ artists featured in Sontag’s work
- Consider the roles and responsibilities of queer artists
- Reflect on the relationship between identity and art
- Understand the impact of queer artists in contemporary art
- Investigate the work of historical and contemporary LGBTQ artists
- Use art and curated displays to express complex ideas creatively
1-9 Class Periods
VIDEOS:
LGBTQ Artists Video and Transcript
HANDOUTS:
Unit Background
Unit Research
Handout 1
Handout 2
Handout 3
Handout 4
WORKSHEETS:
Panel Discussion Worksheet
Review Worksheet
Exhibit/Presentation Worksheet
Fine Arts/Creative Writing Worksheet
TEACHING PLANS:
Teach Handout 1
Teach Handout 2
Teach Handout 3
Teach Handout 4
Panel Discussion Activity
Review Activity
Exhibit/Presentation Activity
Fine Arts/Creative Writing Activity
- Art and Culture
Medium > Visual Arts
Subject Matter > Art History
Subject Matter > Music
- History and Social Studies
People > African American
People > Latinx
People > LGBTQ
People > Native American
People > Other
People > Women
Themes > Civil Rights
Themes > Culture
Themes > Politics and Citizenship
World > The Modern World
- Literature and Language Arts
Genre > Biography
Genre > Drama
Genre > Essay
Genre > Novels
Genre > Poetry
Genre > Short Stories
Place > The Americas
Place > Modern World
- Analysis
- Auditory analysis
- Compare and contrast
- Creative writing
- Critical thinking
- Cultural analysis
- Debate skills
- Discussion
- Evaluating arguments
- Expository writing
- Gathering, classifying and interpreting written, oral and visual information
- Historical analysis
- Internet skills
- Interpretation
- Investigating/journalistic writing
- Journal writing
- Letter writing
- Literary analysis
- Logical reasoning
- Making inferences and drawing conclusions
- Media analysis
- Musical analysis
- Online research
- Oral analysis
- Oral communication
- Oral presentation skills
- Persuasive writing and speaking
- Painting
- Photography
- Poetry analysis
- Poetry writing
- Report writing
- Representing ideas and information orally, graphically and in writing
- Research
- Role-playing/Performance
- Summarizing
- Synthesis
- Technology
- Textual analysis
- Using archival documents
- Using primary sources
- Using secondary sources
- Visual analysis
- Visual art analysis
- Visual art skills
- Visual presentation skills
- Writing skills
- ELA Reading: 1, 3-7, 10
- ELA Writing: 1-7, 9-10
- ELA Speaking & Listening: 1-6
- ELA Language: 4, 6
- HSS Reading: 1-2, 4, 6-10
- HSS Writing: 1-2, 4-7, 9-10
Susan Sontag remained in the closet during her lifetime, refusing to define or label her sexuality. She spent time with LGBTQ artists of all stripes, many of whom were her friends or lovers: writers, painters, photographers, dancers, playwrights, and musicians. A number of her friends and lovers had a significant impact on her work; she started making films after falling in love with French actress and producer Nicole Stéphane, for example, and though she may have fallen in love with photography prior to befriending photographer Peter Hujar (or meeting her lover, Annie Leibovitz), surely the two were connected. Sontag believed in investigating and promoting new and exciting developments in the arts, even if they were challenging, from abstraction in the anti-realistic novels of the 1960s to “Happenings” and early avant-garde performance art. While she did not necessarily care about the sexual orientation of the artists she championed, she became famous by identifying and celebrating Camp, a previously unrecognized “homosexual” style in the arts. Sontag’s work on numerous LGBTQ artists is both a window on her times and an important introduction to contemporary queer art and culture.
LESSON 1 HANDOUTS
LESSON 1 STUDENT ACTIVITY OPTIONS
- Watch Regarding Susan Sontag and reflect on its relevance to your students and subject area. For extracurricular organizations, community groups, and book clubs, consult our guide on adapting the curriculum.
- Select the handout(s) and student activity you will use with this lesson.
- Begin the lesson by watching and discussing the lesson video module with Handout 1
- Continue the lesson with Handouts 2-4 to deepen learning (optional)
- Complete the lesson with a student activity: options include writing, presentation, and creative assignments as well as class projects or debates
- Download or print all related resources for this lesson at our resource center (video module, handouts, worksheets, teaching plans), and prepare for classroom use. Preview the video module, familiarizing yourself with the content and any potential areas of sensitivity for your students (see viewing and discussing sensitive materials).
- Screen Regarding Susan Sontag and discuss with our Educational Screening Guide before beginning this lesson.
- Assign full texts or articles in place of handout excerpts.
- Assign supplementary texts or facilitate independent research with our Identity Unit Research handout, which includes:
- Online resources related to queer and feminist studies
- Reference texts on identity (unit citations and recommendations)
- Allow additional time for discussion, group work, peer-review, editing, revision, or student evaluations and critiques of finished work.
- Coordinate presentations of student activities outside the classroom, such as a class blog, podcast or online gallery posts, school newspaper or literary/art journal publications, student radio or video broadcasts, or all-school exhibits, panel discussions, and screenings.
- Teach this lesson with additional content from the curriculum guide. See our Interdisciplinary Diagram for help choosing related units and lessons.