Tim Miller: stretch marks

Tim Miller's Stretch Marks (1990) is a call to action regarding sexual politics in the height of the AIDS epidemic. Miller employs a queer temporality by relaying his coming-out in high school to his present identity as a gay man, artist, and citizen. He addresses the political climate of HIV/AIDS in the United States and how the disease has led to homophobic agendas, specifically under Ronald Reagan's administration. Miller assumes a voice of political agency through his involvement with ACT UP Los Angeles and critiques the medical industrial complex for contributing to the AIDS death toll. He concludes by envisioning a queer futurity beyond the stigma of HIV/AIDS where gay men are free to be themselves. Stretch Marks was intended to be part of Franklin Furnace's "History of the Future" (1999) netcast on Pseudo Programs, Inc.'s The Performance Channel (www.channelp.com); the corporation went bankrupt during the height of the culture wars, however, leaving the performance footage dormant until published in full by HIDVL in 2015

Tim Miller is an internationally acclaimed performance artist. Miller's work explores the artistic, spiritual, and political topography of his identity as a gay man. His performances have been presented across the world in such prestigious venues as Yale Repertory Theatre, London Institute of Contemporary Art, Walker Art Center, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and Brooklyn Academy of Music. Miller is the author of Shirts & Skin (1997), Body Blows (2002), and 1001 Beds (2006), and his solo performance works have been published in O Solo Homo (1998) and Sharing the Delirium (1994). He has taught performance at the University of California, Los Angeles, New York University, the School of Theology at Claremont University, and other universities across the United States. He is a co-founder of Performance Space 122 in New York City and Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica, California. www.timmillerperformer.com