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# A Six-Hour Performance Centered on One Kiss
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/soft-the-longest-kiss-vanessa-german-gavlak/
- Published: 2019-05-15T13:55:21.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T15:44:09.000Z
- Description: Vanessa German and her partner, Janae Brown, present an intimate exchange between Black women, a perspective absent in mainstream depictions of African-American femininity.
- Author: Matt Stromberg
- Tags: Art, California, Events, Gavlak Gallery, Los Angeles, Vanessa German, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:34 (2019, 2020, part 1)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2019/05/vanessa-german-f1075-2.jpg)

Vanessa German and Janae Brown (photo by Brian Cohen)

Vanessa German’s first solo show in Los Angeles, [*$lang: Short Language in Soul*](http://www.gavlakgallery.com/exhibitions/vanessa-german-lang-short-language-in-soul?ref=hyperallergic.com), features multimedia sculptures that incorporate found objects collected from around her Pittsburgh neighborhood as well as along her travels — fabric, seashells, feathers, toys. [She combines these elements](https://hyperallergic.com/338529/an-army-of-female-power-figures-stands-against-injustice/) to create ritualistic figures or layered wall works onto which she paints portraits of black females, drawing on both African cultural traditions and the African-American assemblage art that emerged in Los Angeles, where she was raised. German’s artistic practice is intertwined with her social activism, manifested in [ARTHouse](http://spacesarchives.org/explore/collection/environment/vanessa-german-arthouse/?ref=hyperallergic.com), a community arts initiative aimed at bringing art to children affected by violence.

In conjunction with the exhibition, German will be staging a six-hour performance “[soft: the longest kiss](http://www.gavlakgallery.com/news/vanessa-german-soft-the-longest-kiss?ref=hyperallergic.com),” this Saturday. Performed with her partner Janae Brown, it will present an intimate exchange between Black women, a perspective absent in mainstream depictions of African-American femininity.

Following the performance, German will be in conversation from 5 to 6pm with Sarah Gavlak and Pavel Zoubok, who is presenting the exhibition in partnership with the gallery.

When: Saturday, May 18, 11am–5pm  
Where: Gavlak Los Angeles (1034 N. Highland Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles)

*More info at* [*Gavlak Gallery*](http://www.gavlakgallery.com/news/vanessa-german-soft-the-longest-kiss?ref=hyperallergic.com)*.*