Embrace by Dorothea Tanning
Brown versus Pink
This imaginary dialogue between two figures in a soft sculpture by Dorothea Tanning is a conflict between two individuals as they struggle to function as a couple.
At first, I saw the darker shape as male and the pink figure as female but as I listened to their voices I found that their genders were interchangeable and I began to feel that their clashing personalities could belong to any sex or gender.
What do you think? Do you know Browns and Pinks? Are you one or the other? Neither?
BROWN
I am brown and hairy.
PINK
I am pink and smooth.
BROWN
I sit up ready.
PINK
I curl around myself, dreaming.
BROWN
I have substance.
PINK
I have movement.
BROWN
I am rigid.
PINK
I am soft.
BROWN
I have a square head.
PINK
I have a fringed, fluffy top part.
BROWN
I am a bear.
PINK
I am a flamingo.
BROWN
I am nervous.
PINK
I am impulsive.
BROWN
I am a scientist.
PINK
I am a dancer.
BROWN
I will carry you.
PINK
I will shape myself to you.
BROWN
I wear trousers.
PINK
So do I.
BROWN
I am afraid to say how I feel.
PINK
I am trying to express my feelings all the time.
BROWN
If I could, I would keep you still.
PINK
That I won’t do, you will have to let me move as I wish.
BROWN
I have muscles, clenched.
PINK
My limbs extend with suppleness.
BROWN
I want to get up and get on.
PINK
I want to revel in this moment of closeness.
BROWN
I reign by day.
PINK
I, by night.
BROWN
Will you come with me?
PINK
If you are prepared to listen to my past, my desires, my feelings.
BROWN
I am in a rush.
PINK
Well then, no.
BROWN
Come with me!
PINK
No. There are things I need to resolve, to ponder, to articulate.
BROWN
These things are not interesting to me.
PINK
Well then, goodbye.
BROWN
I can see where I want to go, but I want you to go with me.
PINK
And I enjoy the strength of your embrace.
BROWN
Yet you care for your own shapes more?
PINK
I will come with you as I change and transform and learn.
BROWN
I won’t change.
PINK
Then give me your unchanging support, no matter how much I alter.
BROWN
If I let go, surely you will leave me.
PINK
No, the more tightly you hold, the less I am inclined to stay.
BROWN
But I want you always to be here, where I can hold you.
PINK
Then you will lose me.
BROWN
I don’t want that.
PINK
It is how things are. You must decide.
BROWN
What I see ahead is better for both of us.
PINK
For you, maybe.
BROWN
Please, come with me.
PINK
If you let go, I will stay beside you.
BROWN
I am frightened to let go.
PINK
You must.
BROWN
I can’t.
PINK
Then I shall become more tightly curled, more cramped and unhappy.
BROWN
My arm is stiff. It pains me.
PINK
Then let go.
BROWN
I can’t.
PINK
Let go. Let go!