NYX Professional Makeup speaks to Kelsea and Jade about the power of intergenerational spaces supporting the Queer Caribbean community
ADVERTORIAL, BY ELLA GAUCI, IMAGE BY TIFFANNIE MERSADES VIA WE ARE SOUL
Can dominoes be used to foster intergenerational spaces for the Black queer community? Kelsea and Jade’s answer is a resounding yes. Having started the Queerribean Dominoes Project, a community project that uses the game of dominoes to connect community elders and younger generations, the pair has seen the power of creating this space.
Queerribean Dominoes Project is one of the trailblazing organisations that have been spotlighted this year by NYX Professional Makeup’s Proudly Pro-You brand initiative. Partnering with UK Black Pride and Stonewall, NYX Professional Makeup’s initiative launched in 2022 with the aim of uplifting and platforming LGBTQIA+ people of colour alongside supporting queer-safe spaces for Queer People of Colour.
With the help from UK Black Pride’s Community Action Fund supported by NYX Professional Makeup, the funding has allowed Kelsea and Jade to put on consistent and frequent events for their community, facilitating long-term intergenerational connections. The organisation can think to the future, planning to put on events across London.
“We wanted to create a space that can hold not only our Queerness but also hold our Caribbeanness,” Kelsea and Jade told NYX Professional Makeup. “One of the frustrations we often have is our community being seen as a silo so it either has to be Queer or Caribbean focused as opposed to a Queer Carribean space.”
When the pair started the Queerribean Dominoes Project, they were supported by a longstanding dominoes club in the community that was made up of primarily straight older men. Some supporters from within queer spaces questioned the presence of these allies at the first events. “That was the biggest frustration; stereotyping us as like not being able to work together,” Kelsea and Jade continued. “It’s not a true reflection of how a lot of us queer Caribbeans live our life. We are in community with our families and we need spaces that provide questions of inquiry to build those bridges between us.”
Watching younger and older generations of queer Caribbeans come together has been a “healing” process for Kelsea and Jade. With the support from the Proudly Pro-You initiative, there are plenty more games of dominoes guaranteed.
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