Accession Code: wu0783 Title: Kenka Kisses James Baldwin Date completed: 2000 Medium: Photograph Material: Lamda Print on Aluminium Height (mm): 800 Width (mm): 800 Depth (mm): n/a Inscription: n/a Location Name: Picture Store Location Description: Location Floor: 0

Purchased by the Contemporary Art Society Special Collection Scheme on behalf of Mead Gallery, University of Warwick with funds from the Arts Council Lottery, 2001

Melanie Manchot is a German artist living in London who has used video and photography to explore notions of intimacy and gesture as a currency of exchange. This photograph is from a series, The L.A. Pictures, which records the moment of a kiss between partners. The nearest participant has his or her back to the camera so that the couple merge optically to become a single figure.

She asked them to write down the name of the person whom they would most like to kiss and the caption below each photograph indicates the choice of one of the partners. This introduces an element of fantasy and imagination lying beyond the intimate gesture witnessed by the viewer.