Spilling the Tea: The Kwanzaa Edition* - Day 2 - Kujichagulia (Self-Determination)

Hi everyone, Hilary’s wife Ara again. As promised, the takeover of her instagram account continues with my second pairing of Hilary Harkness paintings with a Kwanzaa principle along with a few of my musings for you to sip on as I continue Spilling the Tea: The Kwanzaa Edition.

Day 2 - Kujichagulia (Self-Determination): To define and name ourselves, as well as to create and speak for ourselves. 

“Is she? No, couldn’t be.”

 “I think she is. 

“Really?”

“Really.” 

“Well, then. I’m DED.” (Channelling @MarcieBianco the high priestess of deep lezdom, IMHO).

That’s how my conversations in college went. I scoured every inch of the Princeton campus looking for lesbians. When I found a subterranean reading room dedicated to all things women, I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. I read every piece of lesbian fiction I could find. Thank you, #NaiadPress. I fell for more than one of my straight or not yet lesbian girlfriends. I can remember when Kim Legaspi kissed Kerry Weaver on ER. IT WAS A BIG DEAL. I watched Queer as Folk for Melanie and Lindsay. I ASCENDED when Bette Porter appeared on the L Word. I could go on and on. But we’re here for Harkness + Kwanzaa. While I was stalking television and literary characters and doing my best to write them based on longings since experience felt largely out of reach, Hilary was painting the worlds of women that would help define her career. Why include Nervous in the Service, then? It is a bit of an outlier for its male-forward subject, but it’s firmly on point. Earlier this year, Hilary was featured in an @Artsy piece “14 Artists on the Importance of Portraying Queer Love” - and among her other insights (worth reading!): “Last year, I walked alongside Netflix’s Queer Eye “Fab Five” float. Corporate, yes, mainstream, yes, and absolutely beloved by LGBTQ+ and allies alike. I appreciate the show providing a platform for gay men to give back love to a world that doesn’t always love us (no matter how we identify); to teach people to love themselves and to let love in. I hope this is what my paintings do as well.”

They do, sweetheart. Thank you. 

Paintings: Blue Nude (2014), Arabella and the General (2020), Nervous in the Service (2009)

*This and the subsequent “Spilling the Tea” entries originally appeared as a series of Instagram posts.