By Jacinta Bunnell
Frankie Magazine
May 2015
“Gay
has been used for decades as a negative slur to denote something as
ugly, weird or uncool. In my circle of Queer friends, we have reclaimed
the statements “you’re so gay” and “that’s so gay” to mean that
something is AWESOME, perfect, extremely good or delightful. So that got
me thinking about all the amazing things that have come out of or are
associated with LGBTQP culture: rainbows, musicals, glitter, unicorns,
and on and on! There are all these things that just wouldn’t be here
without Queer people. Would we have jazz hands if it were not for all
the gay choreographers? Who are the biggest, most exuberant fans of the
movies Roller Boogie and Beaches?
Since 2001, I have been
collaborating with different artists, making coloring books that
celebrate feminist, queer and trans people and ideas. I started making
them because I didn’t see myself or my friends anywhere in media that
was made for children. We were all children once and if you grow up not
seeing a representation of your family, your feelings, your crushes, or
your loves in ANY media at all, it is really hard to keep your head held
high, let alone keep your tiara in place. In children’s movies, video
games, books and TV, heterosexuality is not just the norm, it is very
near the only way romantic love is ever represented. As an educator, I
have spent many years working with kids of all ages who were literally
dying to be seen and heard, overcoming abuse, neglect, homelessness and
torture simply because of their sexual orientation and/or gender
identity. I wanted to create books which offered a fresh way for people
to look at stereotypes and oppression. If you can get people to laugh at
themselves and at cultural expectations, their hearts will be more
receptive to taking a hard look at difficult issues. Once you have
opened someone’s heart with a joke or a good laugh, you are better able
to do the hard work of liberation together. Though my work directly
draws from feminist, queer, and transgender scholarship and activism, I
try to make it accessible to people of all ages via the familiarity of
coloring books. I LOVE COLORING, I always have. It is relaxing, creative
and fun…. And above all, I just want people to be proud of themselves.
When I decided to make The Big Gay Alphabet Coloring Book,
I approached it a bit differently than my other three books. With those
books, I paid less attention to the design and more attention to the
content. I just wanted to get the message to people. By the time the
idea for this book came about, I had spent several years studying
vintage books, art and design and wanted to incorporate a bit of what I
had always loved about certain design into a book. I spent a week in my
friend Neko Case’s library of old books, taking notes, snapping photos,
and collecting ideas for what would become this book. She has a
beautiful farm in Vermont. It’s not a bad place to spend a week working!
And then I reached out to Leela Corman, who I had met 13 years ago at a
writing retreat with Lynda Barry. We had stayed in touch through the
years and I had followed her work. I was blown away when she published
Unterzakhn, a hauntingly gorgeous graphic novel about two sisters
growing up in New York’s Lower East Side in the early 1900s. When she
said that she would love to illustrate The Big Gay Alphabet Coloring
Book, we set out collaborating by sending ideas through email and
setting up shared documents that we could work on from two different
states. It took over a year, and luckily my publisher, PM Press/Reach
and Teach was psyched about the project.
When you look at the
history of the word Gay, it meant “exuberant, bright, attractive,
lively, happy…” The antonyms for Gay are “joyless, depressed, lifeless,
spiritless…” So the next time someone says “you’re so gay” to you, say
“thanks”.
–Jacinta Bunnell
https://www.etsy.com/shop/JacintaBunnell
www.queerbookcommittee.com
www.jacintabunnell.com
Jacinta
Bunnell is an artist and educator living in the Hudson Valley of New
York. Jacinta’s work has been shown at The Horticultural Society of New
York, Allegheny College, Huguenot Street Farm, KMOCA, Woodstock Artists
Association & Museum, A+D Gallery at Columbia College Chicago,
TeamLove Ravenhouse Gallery, and Roos Arts. She has collaborated with
The Woodstock Film Festival, Planned Parenthood, The Hudson Valley Seed
Library, and Elizabeth Mitchell. Jacinta has toured the U.S. and Canada
with The Gadabout Film Fest, Neko Case, DavEnd, Anne Elizabeth Moore and
Julie Novak. She is a co-founder of Hudson Valley BRAWL (Broads’
Regional Arm Wrestling League).
