Excerpts from the Chicago History Museum’s Thing magazine online exhibit at Google Arts & Culture.
What is THING?
Thing magazine was founded as a platform for black LGBTQ+ life. As such, its issues are full of art, house music, interviews, commentary, small and large features, recurring columns, poetry, and articles centering around black culture, LGBTQ+ culture, HIV/AIDS activism, drag, camp, and more.
Individuals highlighted and interviewed in the ten issues include notables such as Marlon Riggs, Joan Jett Blakk, Essex Hemphill, RuPaul, and Vaginal Davis.
Thing was published in Robert Ford’s Chicago apartment from 1989 to 1993, and thousands of copies were distributed worldwide through stores, subscriptions, and written requests for individual issues. At its height, the zine reached a circulation of nearly 3,000.
The Creators
Robert T. Ford was the creator of Think Ink and, along with Trent Adkins and Lawrence Warren, was a cofounder of Thing. Ford was a writer, DJ, publisher, advocate, and cultural documentarian based in Chicago. In addition to working as the creative director of Rose Records from 1982 to 1990 and publishing Thing, he contributed articles to publications such as Babble and Planet Rock.
Robert Ford passed away at the age of 32 on October 4, 1994, due to AIDS-related complications. His friends and family—contributors to and supporters of both Think Ink and Thing—preserved his work and brought it to the Chicago History Museum in 1995. As a result, the writings, publications, photographs, research, audio, and video created by Ford and everyone at Thing are available to any and all who would wish to view them.
The Google Arts & Culture exhibit was made possible by Rebekah McFarland, Julie Wroblewski, Julius L. Jones, Esther Wang, Timothy Paton Jr., Ashley Gillanders, Solveig Nelson, and the Delmas Foundation.
