460 pages of fun from the 90s!
Every issue of THING has been released as a book by Primary Information.
Thanks to managing editors James Hoff and Sam Korman, designer Rick Myers, and copy editor Allison Dubinsky, the THING anthology is available at primaryinformation.org/product/thing.
Begun in 1989 by designer and writer Robert Ford, THING magazine was the voice of the Queer Black music and art scene in the early 1990s. Ford and his editors were part of the burgeoning House music scene, which originated in Chicago’s Queer underground. Some of the top DJs and musicians from that time are featured in the magazine, including Frankie Knuckles, Gemini, Larry Heard, Rupaul, and Deee-Lite.
THING published ten issues from 1989-1993, before it was cut short by Ford’s death from AIDS-related illness. All ten issues of THING are collected and published here for the first time.
Each issue of THING captures the expansive nature of the Black gay scene, including an imaginative collection of poetry, gossip, art, interviews, and night life adventures.
Inside you’ll find an essay by poet Essex Hemphill published alongside gossip columnist Michael Musto; while Rupaul dishes wisdom alongside a daily diary from the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation.
Joan Jett Blakk’s revolutionary presidential campaign is contained in these pages, as are some of the most underground, influential literary voices of the time, such as Dennis Cooper, Vaginal Davis, Gary Indiana, Marlon Riggs, David Wojnarowicz, and even David Sedaris.
THING presents a colorful portrait of the ball and club culture that existed in Chicago balanced by deep intellectual reflections and articles that will have you gagging. In many ways, THING offers us a blueprint for the fundamental role a magazine plays in bringing together community; its tagline sums it up nicely: “She Knows Who She Is.”
The cover features model Pam Johnson photographed by Stephen Winter. Inside you will see Ken Hare on the cover of issue #1, Kevin Hoover on the cover of issue #3, Jeff Britton on the cover of issue #5, and Lemuel Cabrera on the cover of issue #7.
The magazine includes contributions from Trent D. Adkins, Joey Arias, Aaron Avant Garde, Ed Bailey, Freddie Bain, Basscut, Belasco, Joan Jett Blakk, Simone Bouyer, Lady Bunny, Bunny & Pussy, Derrick Carter, Fire Chick, Chicklet, Stephanie Coleman, Bill Coleman, Lee Collins, Gregory Conerly, Mark Contratto, Dennis Cooper, Dorian Corey, Ed Crosby, The Darva, Vaginal Davis, Deee-Lite, Tor Dettwiler, Riley Evans, Evil, The Fabulous Pop Tarts, Mark Farina, Larry Flick, Robert Ford, Scott Free, David Gandy, Gemini, Gabriel Gomez, Roy Gonsalves, Chuck Gonzales, Tony Greene, André Halmon, Lyle Ashton Harris, Larry Heard, Essex Hemphill, Kathryn Hixson, Sterling Houston, Ishmael Houston-Jones, Gary Indiana, Candy J, Jamoo, Jazzmun, Gant Johnson, Owen Keehnen, Lady Miss Kier, Spencer Kincy, Iris Kit, Erin Krystle, Steve LaFreniere, Larvetta Larvon, Marc Loveless, Lypsinka, Malone, Marjorie Marginal, Terry A. Martin, Rodney McCoy Jr., Alan Miller, Bobby Miller, Michael Musto, Ultra Naté, Willi Ninja, Scott “Spunk” O’Hara, DeAundra Peek, Earl Pleasure, Marlon Riggs, Robert Rodi, Todd Roulette, RuPaul, Chantay Savage, David Sedaris, Rosser Shymanski, Larry Tee, Voice Farm, Lawrence D. Warren, Martha Wash, LeRoy Whitfield, Stephen Winter, David Wojnarowicz, and Hector Xtravaganza.
Purchase the THING anthology at primaryinformation.org/product/thing.
Primary Information is a non-profit organization founded in 2006 to publish artists’ books and artists’ writings. The organization’s programming advances the often-intertwined relationship between artists’ books and arts’ activism, creating a platform for historically marginalized artistic communities and practices. Primary Information facilitates intergenerational dialogue through the simultaneous publication of new and archival books, providing a new audience for out-of-print works and historical context for contemporary artists.
THING
Various artists; edited by Robert Ford, Trent Adkins, and Lawrence Warren.
460 pages, Paperback, 8 x 10.2 inches
February 2025
ISBN: 9798988573647