Desire Lines, Research stills, Kingston, 2022, Courtesy Shade Lane Productions, Design: NODE Berlin Oslo

Aug 19–20, 2022

Desire Lines

Queer Love Across Island Imaginaries

Discourse, performance, dancehall party

In English

Aug 19 & 20, 2022

Conference room, Ostgarten, Sweatbox Exhibition hall 2

All events were documented by Shady Lane Productions (Phil Collins and Siniša Mitrović) for future iterations of the project ().

What does it mean to be queer in the Caribbean, Pan-Caribbean and other island imaginaries? Desire Lines challenges the narratives around LGBTQIA+ issues at the intersection between decoloniality and lived queer experience.

Why is the geopolitical and cultural space of the Caribbean region perceived as unequivocally homophobic in the Western-capitalist imagination? What impact do anti-colonial and emancipatory struggles have on LGBTQIA+? And how homophobic are dancehall and reggae?

Desire Lines is a long-term public artwork which foregrounds issues around queer love in the Caribbean, Pan-Caribbean, diasporas and beyond from an anti-hegemonic, decolonial and intersectional perspective. Activating different forms of collectivity and knowledge, this first iteration features contributions from Jamaica, Trinidad, London and Berlin. It combines a discursive space for learning, unlearning and dialogue with a communal space of mutual care, solidarity and celebration. Through talks, discussions, performances, screenings, radio broadcasts, informal interactions and an all-night dance party the contributors will address the coexistence of queerness and homophobia in island imaginaries with a focus on QTBIPOC (Queer, Transgender Black, Indigenous and People of Colour) practices, experiences and attitudes which unravel the conventional interpretations of gender and sexuality.

Part of The New Alphabet