Curated by Andrew Kennedy, "Peach Teats at the Dude Ranch" was a solo project where disidentification ran amuck. For this billboard commission, I transformed ‘Peach Teats’ the iconic character from the dairy-product billboards located on State Highway 1 into a series of intentionally homo-eroticised caricatures. I also referenced the controversial M.A.D.g.E. sponsored billboards from the early 2000’s. Although instead of investigating genetic engineering through cliche gender roles and shock tactics, I conceptually ‘dragged’ Peach Teats into 1950’s Reno, Nevada where the 1985 lesbian classic film “Desert Hearts” is set. The resulting designs were digitised and made into embroidered patches. This process enabled the disparate references to be held together and rendered as tangible emblems to signal a fictional sub-culture of rural queer belonging.

Daphne Simons

Peach Teats