LARKER ANTHOLOGY Issue 6: OCUPAR POLÍTICA Edited by Patrícia Silva www.larkeranthology.com Published by Shambalissima Editions New York, NY, September 23 2018 Cover: Bi Artist’s interpolation of Janelle Monáe’s Make Me Feel video, released in 2018. Cover: Photo of unicorn Bi Pride flag designed by Jayne B. Shea at Tomorrowland in Boom, Belgium. Photograph by Lauren, from Michigan, USA. This page: Stone Bridge over the Mississippi, Minneapolis, close to the University of Minnesota campus, a base for organizers of the BECAUSE Conference since its inception in 1992. Photography by Detroit Publishing Co, 1905.
“Ocupar a política é fundamental para reduzir as desigualdades que nos cercam.”
Image courtesy of www.mariellefranco.com
—Marielle Franco
First Annual Pride Kick-Off at Philadelphia’s City Hall reveals new Pride flag designed by Tierney Franco inMarielle 2017 July 27 1979 - March 14 2018
Josephine Baker. Photograph by Carl Van Vechten, 1951. Courtesy of the US Library of Congress
Anais Nin. Photograph by Carl Van Vechten, 1940. Courtesy of the US Library of Congress
Elizabeth Eyre de Lanux by Man Ray
Sandra Berhard by WHO WHO WHO Lewis Oakley, photographed by Andrew J. Eastwood
Carrie Hawks, 2018. Photograph by Rachel Roderman.
Janelle Monáe, 2016, at premiere of Hidden Figures. Patience Photograph Agbabi, byphotographer Joel Kowsky/NASA; unknown Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Lauren Beach. Selfie, 2018 “My life forever changed when I attended the BECAUSE conference in 2008. Being in bi community for the first time transformed me. I went from viewing myself as a queer misfit stitched together out of leftover scraps of gay and straight to feeling in my heart that I was a person with a fully integrated and unique sexual identity. In that moment, I became a bisexual person. In that moment, my heart was forever set on fire in love with bisexual communities and movements. That is how I went from being a biidentified queer activist to the bisexual community advocate I am today.” —Lauren Beach, 2018
Eileen Gray, 1926. Photograph by Berenice Abbot.
Freddie Mercury, in the video for “I Want to Break Free” by Queen, released in 1984
Tamara de Lempicka, Skyscrapers, 1929
Tangible History
1st Bi+ Pride Float at London Pride March, 2018
Photographs by Hollie Wong, London Pride 2018
THANK YOU’S WHOEVER YOU ARE, WHEREVER YOU ARE...I’M STARTING TO THINK WE’RE A LOT ALIKE. HUMAN BEINGS SPINNING ON BLACKNESS. ALL WANTING TO BE SEEN, TOUCHED, HEARD, PAID ATTENTION TO. MY LOVED ONES ARE EVERYTHING TO ME HERE. IN THE LEAST YEAR OR 3 I’VE SCREAMED AT MY CREATOR. SCREAMED AT CLOUDS IN THE SKY. FOR SOME EXPLANATION. MERCY MAYBE. FOR PEACE OF MIND TO RAIN LIKE MANNA SOMEHOW. 4 SUMMERS AGO, I MET SOMEBODY. I WAS 19 YEARS OLD. HE WAS TOO. WE SPENT TAHT SUMMER, AND THE SUMMER AFTER, TOGETHER. EVERYDAY ALMOST. AND ON THE DAYS WE WERE TOGETHER, TIME WOULD GLIDE. MOST OF THE DAY I’D SEE HIM, AND HIS SMILE. I’D HEAR HIS CONVERSATION AND HIS SILENCE...UNTIL IT WAS TIME TO SLEEP. SLEEP I WOULD OFTEN SHARE WITH HIM. BY THE TIME I REALIZED I WAS IN LOVE, IT WAS MALIGNANT. IT WAS HOPELESS. THERE WAS NO ESCAPING, NO NEGOTIATING WITH THE FEELING. NO CHOICE. IT WAS MY FIRST LOVE, IT CHANGED MY LIFE. BACK THEN, MY MIND WOULD WANDER TO THE WOMEN I HAD BEEN WITH, THE ONES I CARED FOR AND THOUGHT I WAS IN LOVE WITH. I REMINISCED ABOUT THIE SENTIMENTAL SONGS I ENJOYED WHEN I WAS A TEENAGER...THE ONES I PLAYED WHEN I EXPERIENCED A GIRLFRIEND FOR THE FIRST TIME. I REALIZED THEY WERE WRITTENIN A LANGUAGE I DID NOT YET SPEAK. I REALIZED TOO MUCH, TOO QUICKLY. IMAGINE BEING THROWN FROM A PLANE. I WASN’TIN A PLANE THOUGH. I WAS IN A NISSAN MAXIMA, THE SAME CAR I PACKED UP WITH BAGS AND DROVE TO LOS ANGELES IN. I SAT THERE AND TOLD MY FRIEND HOW I FELT. I WEPT AS THE WORDS LEFT MY MOUTH. I GRIEVED FOR THEM, KNOWING I COULD NEVER TAKE THEM BACK FOR MYSELF. HE PATED MYBACK. HE SAID KIND THINGS. HE DID HIS BEST, BUT HE WOULDN’T ADMIT THE SAME. HE HAD TO GO BACK INSIDE SOON, IT WAS LATE AND HIS GIRLFRIEND WAS WAITING FOR HIM UPSTAIRS. HE WOULDN’T TELL ME THE TRUTH ABOUT HIS FEELINGS FOR ANOTHER THREE YEARS. NOW IMAGINE BEING THROWN FROM A CLIFF. NO, IT WASN’T ON A CLIFF, I WAS STILL IN MY CAR TELLING MYSELF IT WAS GONNA BE FINE AND TO TAKE DEEP BREATHS. I TOOK THE BREATHS AND CARRIED ON. I KEPT UP A PECULIAR
Frank Ocean’s public coming out letter on Tumblr, 2016. http://frankocean.tumblr.com/image/26473798723
FRIENDSHIP WITH HIM BECAUSE I COULDN’T IMAGINE KEEPING UP MY LIFE WITHOUT HIM. I STRUGGLED TO MASTER MYSELF AND MY EMOTIONS. I WASN’T ALWAYS SUCCESSFUL. THE DANCE WENT ON.. I KEPT THE RHYTHM FOR SEVERAL SUMMERS AFTER. IT’S WINTER NOW. I’M TYPING THIS ON A PLANE BACK TO LOS ANGELES FROM NEW ORLEANS. I FLEW HOME FOR ANOTHER MARRED CHRISTMAS. I HAVE A WINDOWSEAT. IT’S DECEMBER 27, 2011. BY NOW I’VE WRITTEN TWO ALBUMS, THIS BEING THE SECOND. I WROTE TO KEEP MYSELF BUSY AND SANE. I WANTED TO CREATE WORLDS THAT WERE ROSIER THAN MINE. I TRIED TO CHANNEL OVERWHELMING EMOTIONS. I’M SURPRISED AT HOW FAR ALL OF IT HAS TAKEN ME. BEFORE WRITING THIS I’D TOLD SOME PEOPLE MY STORY. I’M SURE THESE PEOPLE KEPT ME ALIVE, KEPT ME SAFE.. SINCERELY. THESE ARE THE FOLKS I WANNA THANK FROM THE FLOOR OF MY HEART. EVERYONE OF YOU KNOWS WHO YOU ARE.. GREAT HUMANS, PROBABLY ANGELS. I DON’T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NOW. AND THAT’S ALRITE. I DONT HAVE ANY SECRETS I NEED KEPT ANYMORE. THERE’S PROBABLY SOME SMALL SHIT STILL. BUT YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN. I WAS NEVER ALONE. AS MUCH AS I FELT LIKE IT.. AS MUCH AS I STILL DO SOMETIMES. I NEVER WAS. I DON’T THINK I EVER COULD BE. THANKS. TO MY FIRST LOVE, I’M GRATEFUL FOR YOU. GRATEFUL THAT EVEN THOUGH IT WASN’T WHAT I HOPED FOR AND EVEN THOUGHT IT WAS NEVER ENOUGH, IT WAS. SOME THINGS NEVER ARE.. AND WE WERE. I WON’T FORGET YOU. I WON’T FORGET THE SUMMER. I’LL REMEMBER WHO I WAS WHEN I MET YOU. I’LL REMEMBER WHO YOU WERE AND HOW WE’VE BOTH CHANGED AND STAYED THE SAME. I’VE NEVER HAD MORE RESPECT FOR LIVE AND LIVING THAN I HAVE RIGHT NOW. MAYBE IT TAKES A NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE TO FEEL ALIVE. THANKS. TO MY MOTHER, YOU RAISED ME STRONG. I KNOW I’M ONLY BRAVE BECAUSE YOU WERE FIRST.. SO THANK YOU. ALL OF YOU. FOR EVERTHING GOOD. I FEEL LIKE A FREE MAN. IF I LISTEN CLOSELY.. I CAN HEAR THE SKY FALLING TOO. - FRANK
Jacques Demy on the set of Les parapluies de Cherbourg, 1964
Alicia Roja, 2018. Photography by Elisa Sobrino
Peaches, performing at Summit Music Hall, Denver, Colorado, 2015. Photobraph by ImNotJamesC, Wikimedia Commons.
Elizabeth Mechem, 2017.
“I found it hard to find like-minded people in South Africa. I wanted to start a support group here in South Africa because, as a bisexual man married to a heterosexual woman, I only truly found liberation when I started communicating and interacting with other bisexual people. This interaction has actually helped my wife a great deal as well in her own personal growth in respect of my bisexuality.” —Francois de Wet, founder of AmBi in Pretoria, South Africa
Bi Budhist/@BiBudhist, June 2018. Photograh by Z. Fowler
Fire Sia, Co-Founder Side B Philippines at the 2018 Metro Manila Pride March. Photograph courtesy of Side B Philippines.
i don’t want to sit here and wax poetic about the curve of her thigh / or the swell of her breast / to prove to you my validity / to pry apart my ribs and slip you into my chest / so that i can prove to you my feelings exist / but because a man lays between my hips / here i sit / writing rhymes about all the times / i closed my eyes and tasted something feminine on my lips
—Rhiannon Rae, @rhiannonthropp
June Jordan
Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette with cats. Image: Musee d’Art Moderne Richard Anacreon, Granville, France.
Tina Modotti, Hammock, 1926. A Photogrpah originally in the Collection of Frances Toor, folklorist and publisher of Mexican Folkways Throckmorton Fine Art, New York Robert Miller Gallery, New York, 1997
Andrea George Jenkins. Gordon Photograph Byron, by Craig VanDerSchaegen
ISSUE 6: OCUPAR POLÍTICA