Dazzle camouflage as queer counter conduct

Abstract

Developed as an anti-surveillance strategy during World War I, dazzle camouflage used sharply contrasting colors to disguise ships in the British navy from enemy observation. Unlike traditional camouflage that was meant to keep one’s forces or weaponry hidden, dazzle camouflage used hypervisibility to deflect attention, making it impossible to detect a ship’s movements. In this article, I develop the concept of dazzle camouflage as a form of queer counter-conduct, arguing that queer subjectivity offers a generative vantage point for theorizing resistance to the hegemonic gaze. I draw on three forms of queer protest against everyday surveillance: Chelsea Manning’s response to trolling on Twitter, drag queen practices of reading, and a pair of art projects from visual artist Zach Blas. Taken together, these practices allow me to characterize dazzle camouflage as leveraging aesthetic playfulness and boundary work. Conceptually, my goal is to bring together surveillance studies and queer theory as frameworks for building a more robust account of dazzle camouflage, and moreover, an account that can be instructive for queer activism in a context of everyday digital surveillance.