Kiss & Tell was an artist collective founded in Vancouver by three lesbian artists, Persimmon Blackridge (b.1951), Lizard Jones (b.1961), and Susan Stewart (b.1952). Their work addressed issues of censorship and lesbian sexual politics. They are best known for the 1988 exhibition Drawing the Line: An Interactive Photo Event, which displayed a series of approximately one hundred staged photographs by Stewart depicting Blackridge and Jones in simulated sexual positions. Women viewers were invited to respond to the photographs by leaving comments on where they would “draw the line.” The exhibition travelled to fifteen cities and instigated lively debates about lesbian sexuality and desire.

Image: Kiss & Tell, photograph by Susan Stewart from the exhibition Drawing the Line, 1988, SFU Library Special Collections, Burnaby.

For further reading, see:

Bright, Deborah. “Mirrors and Windowshoppers: Lesbians, Photography, and the Politics of Visibility.” In Over Exposed: Essays on Contemporary Photography, edited by Carol Squiers, 10–11. New York: New Press, 1999.

Zita Grover, Jan. “Framing the Questions: Positive Imaging and Scarcity in Lesbian Photographs.” In Stolen Glances: Lesbians Take Photographs, edited by Tessa Boffin and Jean Fraser, 184–90. London: Pandora, 1991.