Camp


Ester Newton in her book Mother Camp1 describes camp as consisting of three recurrent characteristics:

  1. Incongruity
  2. Theatricality
  3. Humor

She writes, “All three are intimately related to the homosexual situation and strategy. Incongruity is the subject matter of camp, theatricality its style, and humor its strategy.” Camp principles have been applied to fashion, architecture, film, art—naturally one could apply them to landscapes as well. Queer landscapes can be campy because they can situate unexpected elements into the landscape, they can create incongruities that often subvert the norm, and they can use humor.
 
1. Newton, Esther. Mother Camp: Female Impersonators in America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979. Print.