Jane Graham (On Display #3)

I met Jane Graham when ‘Witchknot’ performed at the Vort’n Vis in 1993 (she was the bassist in their early line-up; also involved in the 1in12 club in Bradford and part of the punk/anarchist scene there) – perhaps also when she came over with other touring bands. At that time I probably didn’t know she was doin’ a zine. ‘Shag Stamp’ was the first publication that she did that I got to read (I think Anthony Palmer – who did Dingo Baby, Duhhh, etc. – introduced me to it). I started distributing it and corresponding with her at the time she was in art-school in Sheffield.

Around that time Jane was starting to model and strip. Her writings were very openminded and inspired by feminism & sexual liberation. She performed at Smurfest and took on the alter-ego Minx Grill, a satirical stand-up strip act (burlesque cabaret). In ’96 she did Hickey (“an exploartion of sleaze”) – which I reviewed as “a seductive little booklet on eroticism an corporality”. In ’98 she wrote the booklet Floozy (a fictionalized account of her experiences as a stripper in the UK). Because of all this I got acquainted with people such as Feminists Against Censorship, Cherie Matrix, Tuppie Owens, Annie Sprinkle, etc. Jane also introduced me to the work of Xtina Lamb (Rubber Whammy) and Gritt Uldall-Jessen (Mohawk Beaver).

Jane also contributed to other zines (like Duhhh and Jen Angel’s Clamor). After the turn of the century, she moved to Kopenhagen, Denmark where she started working as a freelance translator & travel-writer and became a mother of 3…

On Display was a collective effort coordinated by Rune Hansen. I got a copy probably from David Bright (one of the contributors, who did the interview below), an English guy living in Scotland who moved to Kopenhagen for a while. I believe he ordered my zine Tilt! and we corresponded.