About
CLOAK is an interdisciplinary and deeply collaborative research project that explores the intersections of queer identity, art, and fashion. The project combines the expertise of academics, artists, and researchers with the lived experiences of members of the LGBTIQA+ community. CLOAK would not have been possible without the contributions of each member of the team, and it stands as a testament to the power of collective effort.
CLOAK exemplifies how interdisciplinary collaboration and the inclusion of diverse perspectives, particularly those from the LGBTIQA+ community, can create new insights and artistic outputs. The project provides a platform for exploring how identity is expressed through fashion and contributes to ongoing conversations around queer representation, creativity, and community.
In 2022, the CLOAK team recruited 12 LGBTQIA+ scientists to collaborate with 10 fashion designers from UTS. Led by Todd Robinson, the designers transformed discarded lab coats into garments reflecting the scientists' personal stories. The garments were later presented in a giving ceremony created by Cherine Fahd.
In February 2023, the CLOAK exhibition launched at UTS Gallery for Sydney WorldPride. Fahd’s video work played on the Broadway Screen alongside a fashion show where scientists and designers modelled the garments. The exhibition was part of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras program and featured the lab coats displayed on illuminated mannequins.
CLOAK gained national and international recognition through media appearances and re-exhibitions, including at the Museum of Contemporary Art. The project has produced research outputs, with more publications in progress, and is supported by partnerships and in-kind contributions. The CLOAK archive now includes re-designed lab coats, a video, and photographic portraits, with future plans to expand public engagement.
The CLOAK team’s approach integrates diverse fields of expertise and is guided by a commitment to collaboration.
Cherine Fahd is one of Australia's leading photomedia artists. For over twenty five years she has produced, exhibited, curated and written on photography and video performance. Her research is focused on the ways photography and portraiture operate as relational practices that bring people together. She is associate professor in Visual Communication at the University of Technology Sydney, currently photographer in residence at the Sydney Social Sciences and Humanities Advanced Research Centre (SSSHARC) at the University of Sydney, and co-chair of Powerhouse Photography at the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, Sydney. cherine.fahd@uts.edu.au
Alice Motion is Professor of Science and Culture in the School of Chemistry at the University of Sydney, where they lead the Science Communication, Outreach, Participation and Education (SCOPE) Research Group. Alice’s research and practice explore ways to share science with new and diverse audiences through citizen science, arts-based collaborations and the intersections of science and culture. Alice is an advocate for the democratisation of science through citizen science and open science. Alice was awarded the Australian Museum’s Eureka Prize for Promoting Public Understanding of Science in 2020. They have written a monthly column, Citizen Chem, for Chemistry World Magazine since 2019, are the creator of Live From The Lab, founder of the Breaking Good citizen science initiative and regularly produce and host creative science content for the public in live venues and across the media.
Kelly Panchyshyn is a PhD candidate in Film Studies at the University of Sydney, which sits on unceded Gadigal Lands. Their research draws on cultural studies and queer theory to investigate the representation and reception of queer friendship in contemporary young adult television. Kelly is also involved in supporting the Hunt-Simes Institute in Sexuality Studies, in association with the Sydney Social Sciences and Humanities Advanced Research Centre (SSSHARC). kelly.panchyshyn@sydney.edu.au
Victoria Rawlings is an Associate Professor in the School of Education and Social Work at the University of Sydney whose work focuses on gender, sexuality, schooling, and other institutions. Her research aims to make schools safer, more inclusive, and receptive to gender and sexuality diversity, including through the prevention and disruption of gendered violence within and around schools. Vic uses co-researcher methodologies to work in partnership with teachers, students, and school leaders to drive meaningful change in their institutional cultures. She also creates curriculum-based strategies including games and classroom activities that aim to build critical thinking, care, and connection in school communities victoria.rawlings@sydney.edu.au
Todd Robinson is a senior lecturer in the School of Design, University of Technology Sydney. His theoretically informed, practice-based research stems from a long engagement with issues of fashion and embodiment, including his experience as a professional fashion designer in the 1990s and early 2000s. Todd has published in Fashion Theory, Fashion Practice and International Journal of Fashion Studies. todd.robinson@uts.edu.au
Lee Wallace is a Professor in the School of Arts, Communication and English and currently directs the Sydney Social Sciences and Humanities Advanced Research Centre (SSSHARC) at the University of Sydney. Her most recent books are Reattachment Theory: Queer Cinema of Remarriage (2020) and, with Scott Herring, the anthology Long Term: Essays on Queer Commitment (2021). With Victoria Rawlings, she co-directs the Hunt-Simes Institute in Sexuality Studies (HISS), an interdisciplinary intensive for emerging researchers in sexuality studies that has an emphasis on queer pedagogy and embodied modes of learning. lee.wallace@sydney.edu.au
The CLOAK project has strong partnerships outside of the University of Sydney’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.
Supported by Sydney’s Norman Haire Fund in Sexuality Studies, CLOAK has achieved so much for less than $20,000 with considerable in-kind support from multiple partners within and outside the university sector. This includes the School of Chemistry, UTS Fashion, UTS Visual Communication, UTS Gallery, the Australian Museum, and Queers in Science, who facilitated recruitment. The CLOAK archive now comprises twelve re-designed lab coats, a video work, and twelve large-scale photographic portraits that showcase the contributions of LGBTQIA+ people to STEM. The CLOAK team have an artbook and academic publications in process. The team are also exploring ways to share CLOAK with broader audiences, including via a school-based citizen science/art project.
