Detail from B&W photograph of Anthony Micallef Animal Head (Oil on linen ) 140 cm x 140 cm Lazarides catalogue of show in Sept – October 2009, p.16.
When I tried writing this I began to imagine the case, common enough in Caribbean slavery, of white male rape of young enslaved black men and boys. In the end I ought to call it a symbol of colonial entitlement, for it knows no bounds. I am hesitant since I know of stories like these only from the literature written by people to whom the experience was a far too near one, but it seemed a better response to discussing how men might impact me as if their aim was always to help, rather than to serve their own needs whilst looking as if they were helping.
This man has made his mark, if that's impact
Enough to speak about. And if the black
And blue are not as swollen as they were,
They certainly haven't sunk below
The surface of my skin - so positive
I'll call them, black on black that only white men
Know how to make on a dark boy's skin, skin
Like mine in hidden places where his trespass
Passes unseen.
Love him, though his hands paw
Me, and his unshaven face noses raw
My cheek, as if teeth and nail clawed through it.
He had dogg'd me; more so after I first
Denied him access to my soft closeness,
That I usually defend so tight.
His eyes seem wet with sorrow, that a ruse
Dogs like him just like to borrow. J'accuse!
Here is another anthropomorphic animal hybrid from Antony Micallef that I barely know how to react to as a picture of either vulnerability to, or perpetration of, crime. I think it is the latter.
Detail from B&W photograph of Anthony Micallef Animal boy (Oil on linen ) 140 cm x 140 cm Lazarides catalogue of show in Sept – October 2009, p.17.
With love
Steven xxxxxxxx
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