Treasure Chests
“There will not be a magic day when we wake up and it’s now okay to express ourselves publicly. We make that day by doing things publicly until it’s simply the way things are.”
- Tammy Baldwin
Treasure Chests takes inspiration from AIDS activist movements that celebrated homosexuality despite heightened cultural stigma during the crisis of the AIDS epidemic. Activists would stage “kiss ins“ and protests that were erotic, irreverent, and celebratory of each other, and served to underline the humanity of a population facing mass death and governmental negligence. Credit and inspiration also to Audre Lorde and her essay Erotic as Power. And to Bayo Akomolafe who teaches us that sometimes the negation of something can only serve to solidify it, and instead of seeking solutions or fixes, we create new realities.
