Scissor(ing): overrated, but funny

The second piece in the Sapphic Series approaches intimacy with humor and honesty. Discovering each other as fellow late bloomers meant plenty of trial and error — navigating the “what” and the “how do we…” The act of scissoring, so often invoked by cis-het people imagining intimacy between two female-bodied partners, gets its due here, and the emojis say everything about how that particular experiment actually went. An “S” symbol — that familiar schoolyard doodle — floats through a dreamlike blue sky of wispy clouds. Around the orange emblem drift sheets of paper and heavy rocks, a clever nod to the still-popular game of “rock, paper, scissors. ” Christine plays with texture in the falling paper, imagining it several ways: a paper airplane, a sheet of lined notebook paper, and a “to-do” list with a secret item tucked along the canvas edge — a gentle reminder that not everything worth doing has to feel like a chore. Woven beneath the humor is a quieter tribute. Andrea Gibson — celebrated spoken-word poet and activist — died of ovarian cancer while this piece was being made. Christine drew on Gibson’s poem “First Love” as both an homage to the late poet and a personal touchstone, a reflection of their own coming-of-age. The result is a work that holds laughter and grief at once: tender, irreverent, and deeply human.