Kiss (photo)
| Kiss |
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| Tanya Chalkin , 2001 |
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Link to the picture |
Kiss ( German "Kuss" ) is a black and white photograph by the British photographer Tanya Chalkin. It shows the models Elena Charbila and Tabitha Denholm, who are only wearing underwear lying in bed and kissing each other. The photo appeared on a large billboard in central London on December 28, 2000 promoting Queercompany , an internet company that caters to LGBT customers. As a result, there were complaints with the Advertising Standards Authority , the organization for self-regulation of the British advertising industry, which were rejected by it. The photo developed into a popular poster motif and found its way into many homes around the world.
description
The photo shows from the supervisory two women from the Po up lying on a bed. On the left is the dark blonde Greek Elena Charbila, on the right the brunette British Tabitha Denholm. Both wear white underwear. While Charbila wears a t-shirt and thong , Denholm wears an undershirt and thong . The women hug and kiss.
Creation and publication
The photo was commissioned for an advertising campaign for the Internet company Queercompany , which was founded in November 2000 and operated a website for homosexuals . The company previously employed a war photographer for its promotional photos. One of the results was a black and white photograph of two women walking hand in hand on a pier . It was accompanied by the slogan "Sorry mom, no white wedding" (German: "Sorry mom, no wedding in white"). For another photo, Henrietta Morrison, one of the founders of Queercompany , hired photographer Tanya Chalkin, who had already taken a photo of the two founders. The shooting took place in December 2000 in Bethnal Green , London . Chalkin took photos from a ladder that stood over the bed. The two models were naked at the beginning of the shoot. However, this was by Morrison, who was come later rejected because she feared the photo might seem like a short time before published advertising poster for the perfume Opium by Yves Saint Laurent with the naked Sophie Dahl from the Advertising Standards Authority banned. So she got shirts for both of them.
The photo appeared on an advertising poster with a white background, the slogan "Thank God for women" (German: "God be thanked for women") and the URL of the Queercompany website . Special attention attracted a very large giant poster that was installed on the morning of December 28, 2000 on Charing Cross Road in central London. It also appeared on smaller posters in London. A poster with two bare-chested men hugging and with the slogan “Thank God for men” was published.
Reactions
The large poster on Charing Cross Road attracted a lot of attention. The Guardian's website reported about it on the day it was installed. Various homosexual groups welcomed the publication, but also pointed out that it would only be a real breakthrough if mainstream companies were to advertise with similar posters.
There were also some critical media comments. In the Observer , Nigella Lawson described the poster as “stylized, cold and not in the least sexy” and criticized the fact that it was not a “real” woman like Sophie Dahl's forbidden poster, but only skinny boyish girls (English: “model-thin boy-girls ") show. Janet Street-Porter praised the advertising campaign in the Independent , but criticized the Queercompany's business concept , which gave the impression that the company wanted to put homosexuals in ghettos again .
Tabloids tried to get interviews with the two models. While Elena Charbila refused, Tabitha Denholm gave the News of the World an interview in which she claimed she was bisexual because she was only supposed to get the £ 10,000 fee for it. Denholm's parents gave the Daily Mail an interview in which they sharply criticized their daughter's appearance on the poster and expressed the fear that she might be mistaken for a lesbian and attacked by extremists.
Because of several complaints, the Advertising Standards Authority checked the poster in early January and concluded that it was not sexually explicit and unlikely to affect children. The organization also pointed out that many of the 50 complaints had apparently never seen the poster.
Further developments
On January 26, 2001, the queer company had a sticker put on the poster that offered it for sale. Later, it was on a charity event the LGBT organization Stonewall for several thousand pounds from a transsexual from Los Angeles bought. The organization also received a portion of the sales proceeds. Since the identity of the buyer is unknown, the whereabouts of the poster are now considered unknown.
As with many other companies founded during the dot-com bubble , Queercompany's history ended shortly after it was founded. The company was put up for sale in January 2002 after running out of money.
The Kiss photo developed into a very popular poster motif, thanks to which Tanya Chalkin earned a lot of money with royalties. The poster is said to be particularly popular among students.
Chalkin continued to work as a photographer in the following years. She reached another high point in her career in 2012 when she was allowed to design three official posters for the Summer Olympics in London alongside well-known artists such as Tracey Emin . She died of liver sarcoidosis in January 2017 at the age of 42 . Elena Charbila now works as an actress and makes music under the pseudonym Kid Moxie. Tabitha Denholm also made music for a while and now works as a video director.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Sophie Wilkinson: 'the kiss' 15 years on: meet the models and creators behind the iconic image. In: iD . March 3, 2017, accessed April 24, 2019 .
- ↑ There are various details about the size of the poster. Sophie Wilkinson speaks of 90 × 10 feet , which is roughly 27 × 3 meters (see id.vice.com ). In contrast, Daniel Rogers speaks of 90 × 10 meters (see theguardian.com ). Lise Lanot speaks of 27 meters (see konbini.com ) and Christian Gysin of 30 feet (see dailymail.co.uk ). Photos of the advertisement suggest that Wilkinson gave the wrong height and Rogers the wrong width. The correct size could therefore be around 27 × 10 meters (see gettyimages.com ).
- ↑ a b c Jamie Wilson: Poster's lesbian embrace breaks advertising taboo. In: The Guardian. December 28, 2000, accessed April 24, 2019 .
- ↑ Gay groups welcome kissing women poster. In: The Northern Echo. December 28, 2000, accessed April 24, 2019 .
- ↑ Nigella Lawson: Sapphism is more than designer-dykery. In: The Observer. December 31, 2000, accessed April 24, 2019 .
- ↑ Janet Street-Porter: Patronising, and faintly insulting? In: The Independent. December 31, 2000, accessed April 24, 2019 .
- ↑ Chritian Gysin: Parents' shock over girl on gay billboard. In: Daily Mail. January 2, 2001, accessed April 24, 2019 .
- ^ Dan Milmo: Ad watchdogs to investigate lesbian kiss poster ads. In: The Guardian. January 2, 2001, accessed April 24, 2019 .
- ^ Dan Milmo: Watchdog clears Queercompany's lesbian ads. In: The Guardian. January 12, 2001, accessed April 24, 2019 .
- ^ Daniel Rogers: 'Lesbian Kiss' ad hoarding for sale. In: The Guardian. January 26, 2001, accessed April 24, 2019 .
- ↑ Jessica Hodgson: Gay website puts up 'for sale' sign. In: The Guardian. January 28, 2002, accessed April 26, 2019 .
- ↑ Jill Chalkin: A ray of sunshine, she was a poster girl for the Olympics. My daughter Tanya. In: The Daily Mail. March 9, 2018, accessed April 24, 2019 .