Ria Pazarlis-Stiles
From Downtown to Provincetown: AIDS and Queer Domestic Life in America’s Oldest Art Colony
Project Title
From Downtown to Provincetown: AIDS and Queer Domestic Life in America’s Oldest Art Colony.
Supervisors
About Ria
I am an art historian interested in queer methodologies, archival practice, and community histories, with a focus on North American art from the 1960s onwards. My PhD is funded by the AHRC via the Northern Bridge Consortium. I split my time between Glasgow and Newcastle.
Project description
My PhD project examines Provincetown, Massachusetts, during the 1970s and 80s as a site of queer community and art-making, and its relationship to the Downtown New York art scene. Centring on snapshot photography and experimental film by artists with ties to both places, including Nan Goldin, Nelson Sullivan, Mark Morrisroe, and Tseng Kwong Chi, the project considers how these works, often resembling family photo albums or holiday souvenirs, function as informal archives of queer domestic space and radical caregiving networks. In doing so, it proposes archiving itself as an act of care, and disrupts ideas of the Downtown scene as purely 'synonymous with [...] sex, drugs, rock and roll' (Taylor, 2006).
Wider interests
Alongside my research, I work as an Art History Tutor at Newcastle University, teaching regular undergraduate seminars. In 2026, I will undertake a six-month placement at Glasgow Women's Library, working with the Lesbian Archive. Previously, I worked as a Reading Room Assistant in Robinson Library Special Collections & Archives at Newcastle University, where I supported researchers and contributed to a gender bias review project. I also serve as PGR Representative on the School Research & Innovation Committee (SRIC), representing postgraduate researcher perspectives in discussions on research strategy, funding, and culture.
Presentations
In January 2026, I presented the conference paper 'Locating Downtown Through Provincetown: A Queer Reimagining of Place' at the symposium ‘Locating Downtown’ at New York University.
Memberships
- International Council of Museums (ICOM) member
- University and College Union (UCU)
Education
- MA History of Art, The Courtauld Institute of Art 2022-2023
- Dissertation titled ‘From Downtown to Provincetown: Queer Art and Community Making in America's Oldest Art Colony’ - Awarded the Paule Vézelay Prize for Outstanding Work in Modern and Contemporary Art
- BA History of Art, University of East Anglia 2013-2016
- Dissertation titled ‘The Iconography of The Street: Romare Bearden and the Art of Collage’ - Awarded the UEA Excellence Award 2015-16 and 2014-2015