The Territorial Sea, 2019
I Am Conducting Innocent Passage in the Territorial Sea, digital video (55 minutes)
Rod’s Handcuffs, neon sign (on loan from the UW-Madison LGBT Archives)
U: “You are running Into danger”, neon sign (48” x 48”)
baby forgive me, a queer dance party
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Rodney Scheel was the owner of Rod’s, a beloved gay bar in Madison, WI that thrived in the 1980’s and 90’s and was frequented by people from across Wisconsin and the Midwest. These neon handcuffs hung in the bar and miraculously survived the 1996 Hotel Washington Fire that destroyed the entire complex. Rodney Scheel died in 1990 from U.S. government neglect of the AIDS epidemic, and Madison’s affordable housing for people living with HIV/AIDS is named for him. This exhibition was dedicated to the people of Rodney’s generation who carved out precious space for those of us living in the margins. The handcuff sign was generously loaned to the exhibition by the LGBT Archives at University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Steenbock Library.