Gilded Heroes: Jewelry, Metalwork, Military Power, and Queer Longing

Badges and awards are public displays that often conceal more personal and often contradictory sentiments. In this live virtual discussion, Aaron Decker, an artist and enamelist, and John Stuart Gordon, the Benjamin Attmore Hewitt Curator of American Decorative Arts, explore how jewelry and metalwork communicate queer identity in relation to the military. Focusing on examples by Decker and other artists included in the exhibition Gold in America: Artistry, Memory, Power and the installation American Jewelry: The Susan Grant Lewin Collection at the Yale University Art Gallery, they consider how these issues have evolved since the 18th century and continue to resonate today. Generously sponsored by the Martin A. Ryerson Lectureship Fund.