From June 1992 to March 1995, in the midst of the AIDS crisis in NYC, an extraordinary theatrical collective emerged from underground called the Blacklips Performance Cult. co-founded by ANOHNI.
In Blacklips: Her Life and Her Many, Many Deaths, ANOHNI and coeditor Marti Wilkerson lay bare the collective’s archives in photographs, scripts, and the assembled ephemera from more than one hundred and twenty original “plays.”
Featuring images from newly digitized film and video recordings, texts from participants and audience members, and an introduction by Lia Gangitano, this expansive collection introduces to the twenty-first century the short-lived and ruthlessly creative phenomenon that was Blacklips.
ANOHNI:
“Hi everyone. The moment has finally come! It’s been three years in the making. Marti Wilkerson and I finished the Blacklips book and the LP compilation. I have never worked so long and hard on any project in my entire life. Thousands of hours!
The book is a 500-page, 11″ square color art book, and it’s pretty gorgeous… an encyclopedia of everything the group did. It is just lush.”
The double vinyl compilation is a real night on the town, featuring all my favorite tracks, plus many original recordings from that era, notes, and artwork by me, some new songs of mine from back in the day, including one of my favorite songs I did with Johanna Constantine called The Yellowing Angel. The records also feature gorgeous new recordings by my peers from The Blacklips group (including Ebony Jet singing Satellite of Love, James F. Murphy, and SIssy Fitt)
I hope you all enjoy this material as much as we have treasured putting it all together for you.”
