The Kiss
Their Kiss by Mailyne K. Briggs
August 27, 2020
The Kiss.
I’ve been sitting on this artwork for a while now. COVID-19 gave me some space to create art through a new medium and this one has been a work in progress. It came out of a conversation I had with a friend. We were discussing the creation of a podcast and hashing out episode ideas and one of them was the topic of queerness within our cultures. We’re both women of colour, both from different immigrant backgrounds who don’t openly identify as being queer - at least not to our families. We know there are many people like us because unfortunately it’s still not accepted. It’s gossiped about. The last thing we want is Aunties to start asking questions. For some folks this is something they can handle, for others like us, we just don’t want the heat.
This conversation reminded me of an image I loved as a teen. A black and white Calvin Klein ad that stuck out to me. A photograph of two women kissing by Tanya Chalkin that was commissioned by queercompany. At the time it was so controversial that people wouldn’t even walk by it with their children for fear that it would screw them up completely. Even Tabitha, the model’s parents were furious with the ad agency for making her do something so “dangerous and irresponsible.”
At 15, I never knew how significant it was to have a giant picture like that plastered on billboards and magazines. All I knew was that it was so beautiful that I never forgot it. I didn’t have the word for what I was then, but I understand myself a lot better now especially because of the courage and sacrifices of others around me. It makes me think of my first kiss with a young woman of colour. Alicia. We met one summer at a Parks camp party - all of us were still in high school. I remember the way she looked at me when she first met me, the way she took my hand and led me into one of the tents. We kissed. We kissed the next time we saw each other. And the next time and the next. The last time I saw her was when she came to one of our house parties. A huge fight broke out, the front window was smashed and we forced everyone to leave. I haven’t seen her or spoken to her since. But I always remember.
This art is a tribute to that photograph by Tanya Chalkin, who unexpectedly passed away in 2017. This time I wanted to use brown skin. Imagine how much anger, controversy - probably even violence that it would have caused to create an ad with two brown women kissing, displayed on billboards everywhere.
Imagine how many more women would have felt seen.
