Vaginal Davis is an American intersex-born, genderqueer performing artist, painter, independent curator, composer, and writer. Davis' name is a homage to activist Angela Davis. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Davis became well known in the 1980s in New York City. She currently resides in Berlin.

Life and career

1970-1989: Career beginnings

Vaginal Davis' band the Afro Sisters released their first seven-inch EP Indigo, Sassafras & Molasses, produced by Geza X, on Amoeba Records in 1978. The Afro Sisters opened for the Smiths on their first American tour, as well as the Happy Mondays.

Vaginal Davis is often associated with the formation of the Queercore zine movement. From 1982 to 1991, she self-published the zine Fertile La Toyah Jackson. Bruce LaBruce described the zine as "an underground rag that featured SoCal punk scene gossip, photos of hot Huntington Beach surfers and wistful musings by Miss Davis herself." Davis' job at UCLA's Placement & Career Planning Center allowed her free access to a Xerox machine to publish the zine.

1989-1999: Bands

In 1989, Davis formed the band Pedro, Muriel, and Esther (PME) with Glen Meadmore. Davis had previously sung backup vocals for Meadmore along with RuPaul. PME disbanded after releasing a four-song EP on Amoeba records.

Davis formed the band Black Fag in 1992 with Bibbe Hansen. Black Fag's album Passover Satyr was released on Dischord Records that same year and was produced by Kim Gordon. The band's 1995 album 11 Harrow House was produced by Hansen's son Beck.

In 1995, Pedro, Muriel, and Esther reformed to perform at the Queercore '95 festival in Chicago. The band later released their first full-length album The White to Be Angry, produced by Steve Albini in 1998 on Spectra Sonic Records.

2000-2009: Move to Germany

In Los Angeles, Davis is also known for hosting and DJing a range of performance and music events. One of the most prominent was "Bricktops" (2002-2005), a weekly salon/speak-easy inspired by vaudevillian Ada "Bricktop" Smith. She also hosted and DJed a Sunday afternoon music event called "Sucker" (1994-2000). Davis and artist Ron Athey curated and hosted GIMP (2000-2001), a monthly night of performance art.

In 2007, Vaginal Davis moved from Los Angeles to Berlin, Germany.

In 2009, Pedro, Muriel and Esther reunited in a 20th-anniversary show presented in New York City by Participant Inc. as part of Performa 09.

2010-present: Performance and visual art

Davis' performance piece "Speaking from the Diaphragm" ran from May 15 to 27, 2010, at Performance Space 122. The show parodied television talk shows and featured interviews by Carole Pope, Jamie Stewart, Joel Gibb, and Glen Meadmore. Carmelita Tropicana and Jennifer Miller were co-hostesses for Davis' show.

In January 2012 Davis participated in the J. Paul Getty's "Pacific Standard Time Performance Festival, with "My Pussy Is Still in Los Angeles (I Only Live in Berlin)" at Southwestern Law School, Louis XVI-style Tea Room (originally Bullocks Wilshire Department Store). April 2012, Davis debuted live her band Tenderloin as part of the festival "Camp/Anti-Camp: A Queer Guide to Everyday Life" at Hebbel am Ufer. Tenderloin's line-up consisted of Felix Knoke, Jan Klesse, Joel Gibb, and Vaginal Davis performing under the alias "Dagmar Hofpfisterei.". In August 2012 the band was invited by curator Anthony Hegarty to perform at this year's Meltdown Festival at the Southbank Centre in London with Kembra Pfahler and the Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black. After the performances Tenderloin released the music video for "The Golden One" that featured drag queen the Goddess Bunny and was directed by Glen Meadmore.

From November 9 to December 16, 2012, Davis opened her first major solo exhibition of solely visual art (as opposed to performance art), titled "HAG - small, contemporary, haggard" at the Participant Inc. in New York. The name of the show was based on the gallery that Davis hosted in her Los Angeles apartment from 1982-89.

Artistry

José Esteban Muñoz has identified Davis as a progenitor of "terrorist drag," for Davis was neither "glamour" like New York performers Candis Cayne and Girlina, nor "clown" (camp) like drag queens Varla Jean Merman and Lady Bunny. According to Davis, "I wasn't really trying to alter myself to look like a real woman. I didn't wear false eyelashes or fake breasts. It wasn't about the real-ness of traditional drag - the perfect flawless makeup. I just put on a little lipstick, a little eyeshadow and a wig and went there." Dominic Johnson of frieze said, "Ms Davis consistently refuses to ease conservative tactics within gay and black politics, employing punk music, invented biography, insults, self-mockery, and repeated incitements to group sexual revolt." Davis critiques the co-opting of African, Hispanic, and LGBT culture by the mainstream.

Discography

The Afro Sisters

• Indigo, Sassafras & Molasses (1978)
• Maxis on Melrose (1980)
• So Black I'm Blue (1981)
• Too Black, Too Strong (1982)
• Shoulder Pads, Maxi Pads (1983)
• Magnificent Product (1984)
• Armed & Extremely Dangerous (1985)
• Wet Lesbian (1986)

Black Fag

• Parerga y Paralipomena (1992)
• Atlas Shrugged (1993)
• Passover Satyr (1994)
• 11 Harrow House (1995)

¡Cholita! The Female Menudo

• ¡No Controles! (1987)
• Chicas De Hoy (1989)
• ¡Cholita! (1996)

Pedro, Muriel & Esther

• PME (1991)
• The White to Be Angry (1998)

Solo

• Small Whyte House (Vaginal Davis and Robespierre) (1994)

Other appearances

Title	Year	Album
"Well, Well, Well" (Le Tigre featuring Vaginal Davis)	2004	Feminist Sweepstakes (2004 re-issue)
"I Could Have Sex" (Technova featuring Vaginal Davis)		Electrosexual
"Mama's Not Dead" (Technova featuring Vaginal Davis)
"My Pussy is a Cactus" (Technova featuring Vaginal Davis)
"Mangina" (Technova featuring Vaginal Davis)
"Bitterest Pill" (Technova featuring Vaginal Davis)
"Girls Like Us" (The Julie Ruin featuring Vaginal Davis)	2012	Non-album single

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	Designy Living
1994	Three Faces of Women		Director- Rick Castro
1995	Super 8½
1995	Live Nude Girls	Pool Man
1996	Hustler White	Buster Boote
1998	Hallelujah! Ron Athey: A Story of Deliverance	Herself
1999	The White To Be Angry		Director; short film
1999	Can I Be Your Bratwurst, Please?		Director; short film
2001	The Other Newest One		Director; short film
2001	Le Petite Tonkinoise		Director; short film
2001	Fra unter Einfluss		Director; short film
2005	Beyond Lovely	Bruce B.	Short film
2006	The Pikme-Up	Herself
2008	The Lollipop Generation	Beulah Blacktress
2010	The Dream of Norma	Norma	Short film
2010	The Bad Breast; or, The Strange Case of Theda Strange		Short film
2011	The Advocate for Fagdom	Herself
2012	Rosas Welt - 70 neue Filme von Rosa von Praunheim	Marta Feuchtwanger

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	Tales of the City	Endup Emcee
2001	Gideon's Crossing	Eddie	Episode 9: "Is There a Wise Man in the House?"

[ Source: Wikipedia ]