Kiss and Tell is a Vancouver, British Columbia based performance and artist collective whose work is concerned with lesbian sexuality. In 1990, collective members Persimmon Blackbridge, Lizard Jones and Susan Stewart used the intense debates within the queer community around sexual practice in the early 1990s to create the photographic exhibition Drawing the Line. Their photographs depicted a continuum of lesbian sexual practice ranging from kissing to whipping, bondage, and voyeurism. The project encouraged gallery viewers to comment on what they saw and how it made them feel by writing directly on the walls around the prints; allowing the viewer to "draw the line" and examine their ideas and beliefs about different sexual behaviors. “Drawing the Line” was made in response to the “porn wars” of the late 80’s-the feminist debate of if female sexual imagery was more oppressive to women, or if it was empowering to women.[1] Kiss and Tell’s work explicitly embraced depictions of female sexuality, and encouraged the conversation between anti-porn feminists and sex positive feminists.[1] The art was controversial, even more so as it was released in the era of the Red Hot Video Store bombings.[2] The collective displayed their work to point out the double standard in which artists exploring politics and sexuality are “cause for alarm” and yet adult films and magazines that are much more explicit are of no concern.[3] This show was about desensitizing the view of queer sex and relationships. It intended to make lesbian relationships just as visible as straight relationships.[4] Through the intimate exploration of queer bodies, The Kiss and Tell collective gave space for lesbians to perform and share their experiences.[5] The show traveled widely in Canada and the United States in the 1990s, as well as showing in Australia and the Netherlands. In the summer of 2015 Kiss and Tell had redisplayed and revisited their exhibition “Drawing the Line.”[6] This was featured at the Vancouver Queer Arts Festival in celebration of the work’s 25th anniversary, and was the first time in 13 years that it had been displayed.

Group member Lizard Jones remembers the impact of the show in her community of Vancouver, and beyond: "There was/is a lot to say, and a lot to learn from audiences at our talks. Our first performance piece... True Inversions, evolved quite directly from those experiences, from a desire to say things that were non-verbal, visual, or more emotive, things that had no place in talks".

True Inversions was a multi-media performance that caused a similar stir across the country, and resulted in the book, Her Tongue on my Theory: Images, Essays and Fantasies which won a Lambda Award in 1995. Their book Her Tongue on My Theory had a good reception and went on to be nominated for Lambda Literary Awards[7] in the categories of Lesbian Studies Award, Small Press Book Award, and the Lesbian Poetry Award. They had won the Small Press Book Award. Lorna Boschman directed three videos about Kiss & Tell: Drawing the Line (1992), True Inversions (1992), and Before the New Millennium (2007).

Kiss and Tell premiered That Long Distance Feeling: Perverts, Politics & Prozac in Vancouver in November 1997.

Artist biographies

  • Persimmon Blackbridge is a visual artist and writer whose work has focused on lesbian sex and sexual representation, disability culture, and the mental illness system. It is also worth mentioning that Persimmon Blackbridge has since been the winner of a 1991 VIVA award, a 1995 Lambda Award, a Ferro Grumley Fiction Prize in 1997, the 1998 Van City Book Award, and an Emily Carr Distinguished Alumni Award in 2000.[8]
  • Lizard Jones is a visual artist, award-winning writer, and performer living in Vancouver, with experience in radio and alternative print media. Her novel, Two Ends of Sleep, was published by Press Gang Publishers in 1997.
  • Susan Stewart has been producing photography and multi-media performance works since 1978. She also teaches and has an M.F.A. from Simon Fraser University. Her most recent work, "Lovers & Warriors: aural/photographic collaborations," was an installation produced in collaboration with 25 women, mostly lesbians, which explores issues of gender, marginality, and the politics of photographic representation.

Bibliography

  • Kiss & Tell Drawing The Line: Lesbian Sexual Politics on the Wall. Vancouver, B.C.: Press Gang Publishers, 1991.
  • Kiss & Tell (Persimmon Blackbridge, Lizard Jones, and Susan Stewart). Her Tongue on My Theory: Images, Essays and Fantasies. Vancouver, B.C.: Press Gang Publishers, 1994.
  • Blackbridge, Persimmon and Sheila Gilhooly. Still Sane. Vancouver, B.C.: Press Gang Publishers, 1985.
  • Blackbridge, Persimmon. Sunnybrook: A True Story With Lies. Vancouver, B.C.: Press Gang Publishers, 1996.

References

  1. 1 2 Perelle, Robin (6 August 2015). "Kiss & Tell, trigger warnings and trans pledge: my Pride highlights Vancouver's Queer Arts Festival hits new high". Xtra Magazine. Archived from the original on 30 May 2023. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  2. ↑ "Trigger: Drawing the Line in 2015". Queer Arts Festival. 4 June 2015. Archived from the original on 30 March 2023. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  3. ↑ Anthony, Pamela (20 October 1994). "Kiss and Tell female troupe tells all in funny, brave show: [EARLY Edition]". Edmonton Journal.
  4. ↑ Goldie, James (9 July 2015). "Queer Arts Festival draws new lines around sex and censorship". Xtra Magazine. Archived from the original on 30 May 2023. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  5. ↑ Wray, B.J. (1999). "Imagining Lesbian Citizenship: A Kiss & Tell Affair" (PDF). Torquere: Journal of the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Studies Association. 1: 25–46. Archived (PDF) from the original on 31 May 2023. Retrieved 30 May 2023 – via CORE.
  6. ↑ "Archival Holdings: Kiss & Tell Collective". SFU Access to Memory. Simon Fraser University. Archived from the original on 7 April 2023. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  7. ↑ "Lambda Literary Awards Finalists & Winners [filtering by kiss & tell]". Lambda Literary Foundation. Archived from the original on 30 May 2023. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  8. ↑ "Persimmon Blackbridge – Drawing the Line". Bodies in Translation. 5 July 2020. Archived from the original on 7 April 2023. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
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