At Dixon Place’s HOT FESTIVAL
Curated by Laryssa Husiak
Was it the batting eyelashes of your best friends older sister? When you blushed at the mannequins at Victoria’s Secret? When you wove your first hemp bracelet or got your mixed tape of the Indigo Girls? You remember and so do we… Join us for an evening of memories, songs, videos, dance and performances with: Jess Barbagallo, Faye Driscoll, Sharyn Jackson w/ La John Joseph, Laryssa Husiak, Joseph Keckler, Sunita Prasad and Laura Stinger. Curated by Laryssa Husiak
AUDIENCE RESPONSE!
“When I Realized I liked Girls” was an evening of shared stories and new works by 7 artists. In an effort to engage the audience in the conversation,
I had little pieces of paper with the prompt, “When I Realized” and the audience could respond anonymously. Here is what they said:
“When I Realized”…
*”I liked girls I was more boyish. I was just learning to speak. I didn’t know how to make the words, but I knew my body was saying, ‘No, no, use he, him and his!”
*She wasn’t kidding I was like, ‘Ok, grandma, I love you, too!'”
*”Was gay, when on my 5th birthday, my mother gave me $10, took me to the local toy store, and told me I could pick any toy I wanted. I chose 2. A Jem doll and a Rainbow Brite.
*”I had a dick in my mouth, I took it out because: a.) i was afraid I would accidentally bite it off b.) diseases.”
* “Felix Corakerres “Never Met a Girl Like You” “Young Rascals”
*”Reading a sci-fi story about a sex scene between a woman and a giant orchid. And masturbating with a medical vibrator.”
*”Age6 – Star Wars V, Ula’s gold bikini. Age 7 Little Mermaid. Age 8 – 16 Denial/Jesus Years. Age 17 – Claire. I still love her and she still doesn’t know it. Age 18 – Stacy – not really sure how that happened. Age 22 – Sarah – we fucked to a play list of every Fiona apple album. We kept going when the play list ended.”
*”When I think back, I should have realized I was gay but Vicki was my 1st relationship, from 4th to 7th grade. We did not even have a label for what we had but we just loved each other dearly and sex was wonderful, we couldn’t wait to see each other.”
*”Well there was this nun…Ask me later to explain”
*”Liked girls. I had already spent 1 year at an all women’s college. I wanted to use a night of drinking as an excuse to make out with a girl I knew to be unavailable, but I didn’t understand why I wanted to. I the night ended with that girl leaving while I was out (unaware of my intentions) and I went back to my room alone.”
*”I liked boys: I made a collage of Fred Savage. It was pretty simple.”
*”I liked girls, I had a crush on my 72 year old great aunt ( by marriage) and I was very excited to share a bedroom with her.”
THANKS TO ALL WHO CONTRIBUTED!