Desire Lines: Queer Love Across Island Imaginaries

What does it mean to be queer in the Caribbean? Discussions, talks, performances and a dancehall party challenge the narratives around LGBTQIA+ issues at the intersection between decoloniality and lived queer experience.
Why is the geopolitical and cultural space of the Caribbean perceived as unequivocally homophobic in the Western-capitalist imagination? What impact do anti-colonial and emancipatory struggles have on LGBTQIA+ communities in Jamaica and beyond? And how homophobic are dancehall and reggae?

Desire Lines is a long-term public artwork which foregrounds issues around queer love in the Caribbean, the diaspora 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 intertwines a discursive space for learning and dialogue with a social space for gathering, dancing and celebration. Through talks, discussions, performances, screenings, radio broadcasts, informal interactions and nightclubbing the contributors will address the coexistence of queerness and homophobia in island imaginaries with a focus on QTBIPOC (Queer & Trans Black/Indigenous/People of Color) practices, experiences and attitudes which unravel the conventional interpretations of gender and sexuality.

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