Erased Love

“Erased Love” is a love letter to the many marginalized people who have been erased from history. This was originally a writing assignment for my Queer Narratives class that I decided to adapt into my final project for the same class. The writing assignment was to write self-insert historical fiction, imagining our queerness in a time that is inaccessible to us. Inspired by “The Watermelon Woman” (1996, Cheryl Dunye), I imagined myself as a filmmaker in the silent era. Dahlia Dahl (the character) is named after me, and while I’m trans, she is cis. I don’t think of myself as a trans woman, even though I am; I think of myself as a lesbian. This tape is an expression of my lesbian feelings, not my transgender feelings. This was originally presented on a CRT television next to writings from the two lovers in Sharp Museum. The subtitles were put on after the fact for ease of reading them on the originally intended display. I originally never intended for this to leave that space, but I’m so proud of it that I decided to share it. The character Alex Pseudonym is played by an actual film professor who taught me about women in the silent film era. He wished to remain uncredited in wider releases of the movie, but it should be noted that his dialogue was improvised to add authenticity to his teachings.