I have many of the characteristics found in literary interpretation of serial killer profiles. As a child I was obsessed with fire to the extent of building intricate model houses just to see them burn. I also burnt down the garden shed. I was beaten up when as a child I decided to walk the street in my sisters party frock and in early adolescence I would slip on my mothers Tricel snakeskin print shirt dress throw myself on the bed and ravish myself. Luckily I am an Artist and therefore have ample outlets for my obsessions without resorting to serial murder.
HYSTERICAL/HISTORICAL HIGHLIGHTS
LAPIN AU BONNE FEMME:
In the 1970's as performance artist Charlie Pig I did a cookery demonstration at the Spiv Cafe on Railton Rd in Brixton. The performance was about the difficulty of being a good wife and mother, producing good food whilst remaining glamorous. Dressed in a gorgeous tiger print frock I proceeded to skin a rabbit and chop carrots. At the end of the performance I chopped off the rabbits head and threw the meat and veg into a bin.The rabbit fur I draped around my neck (so glamorous). I donned a silver plastic mac in order to leave the cafe and as a final bow picked up the rabbits head and dropped it in my pocket.
Because the cafe had no changing room I had to get dressed in a house just up the street, full of adrenaline I could not get the house key to work. An enormous Rastafarian came to the aid of this damsel in distress, little knowing she was a he and was wearing bloody rabbit fur round her neck and carrying a rabbits head in her pocket. This could have led to the worst or best night of his life, however I ran in panic back to the cafe. I discovered that I had been trying to get into the wrong house and was so relieved that the tenants had not come to the door.
VERY CROSS DRESSER:
In the 1960's cross-dressing was considered a political act and I was well up for it. I have never been a drag queen or a transvestite but women's clothes always attracted me mainly because they provided more options.
I styled myself on 1930s lesbians; a full length button through tweed skirt woman's tweed jacket and little silk blouses with a bow at the neck.
I caused an uproar when I turned up at a Gay Liberation Front meeting in this garb. GLF considered Drag to be counterrevolutionary and were opposed to what they considered a gay stereotype, this despite the fact that 95% of the women there were wearing jeans and sweatshirts.
As a member of GLF street theatre I was part of a Women' Liberation Front Intervention. We were asked to supply men in drag to mingle with a party of women who would attempt to enter the men only Rugby bar at Imperial College. Two of our women managed to enter the bar dressed as men, but I'm afraid the women we drag queens were asked to mingle with were all petite and pretty and we were all forced out and had fire hoses turned on us.
At a later protest seven of our members were charged with obstructing the footpath. We were continually sent from court for wearing hats and wigs. The great thing about this memory was the fact that every time we went to court we shared the cells with a group of protesters who had organised a sit in at the Sierra Leone Embassy so there was chorus of power salutes in solidarity. Whilst we were in court the rest of the street theatre re-enacted the court scene from Alice in Wonderland outside the court.
LAPIN AU BONNE FEMME:
In the 1970's as performance artist Charlie Pig I did a cookery demonstration at the Spiv Cafe on Railton Rd in Brixton. The performance was about the difficulty of being a good wife and mother, producing good food whilst remaining glamorous. Dressed in a gorgeous tiger print frock I proceeded to skin a rabbit and chop carrots. At the end of the performance I chopped off the rabbits head and threw the meat and veg into a bin.The rabbit fur I draped around my neck (so glamorous). I donned a silver plastic mac in order to leave the cafe and as a final bow picked up the rabbits head and dropped it in my pocket.
Because the cafe had no changing room I had to get dressed in a house just up the street, full of adrenaline I could not get the house key to work. An enormous Rastafarian came to the aid of this damsel in distress, little knowing she was a he and was wearing bloody rabbit fur round her neck and carrying a rabbits head in her pocket. This could have led to the worst or best night of his life, however I ran in panic back to the cafe. I discovered that I had been trying to get into the wrong house and was so relieved that the tenants had not come to the door.
VERY CROSS DRESSER:
In the 1960's cross-dressing was considered a political act and I was well up for it. I have never been a drag queen or a transvestite but women's clothes always attracted me mainly because they provided more options.
I styled myself on 1930s lesbians; a full length button through tweed skirt woman's tweed jacket and little silk blouses with a bow at the neck.
I caused an uproar when I turned up at a Gay Liberation Front meeting in this garb. GLF considered Drag to be counterrevolutionary and were opposed to what they considered a gay stereotype, this despite the fact that 95% of the women there were wearing jeans and sweatshirts.
As a member of GLF street theatre I was part of a Women' Liberation Front Intervention. We were asked to supply men in drag to mingle with a party of women who would attempt to enter the men only Rugby bar at Imperial College. Two of our women managed to enter the bar dressed as men, but I'm afraid the women we drag queens were asked to mingle with were all petite and pretty and we were all forced out and had fire hoses turned on us.
At a later protest seven of our members were charged with obstructing the footpath. We were continually sent from court for wearing hats and wigs. The great thing about this memory was the fact that every time we went to court we shared the cells with a group of protesters who had organised a sit in at the Sierra Leone Embassy so there was chorus of power salutes in solidarity. Whilst we were in court the rest of the street theatre re-enacted the court scene from Alice in Wonderland outside the court.