Joan Jett Blakk is a fabulous drag persona created by Terence Alan Smith. She is most famously known for her Democratic presidential campaign against George W. Bush in 1992 — "Joan Jett Blakk for President." Her political aspirations were inspired by activist groups like ACT-UP and Queer Nation and their fight for visibility during the AIDS crisis.

Joan Jett Blakk was also a dear friend of Jerome, and she used her Oprah Winfrey-style platform as a way to help promote him and his art. Jerome was a special guest on the infamous Joan Jett Blakk Show, at Josie’s Juice Joint, along with other radical queers like Rena McDonald (aka Adam Klein) and Lynn Breedlove & Leslie Mah’s fierce SF LGBTQ+ punk band, Tribe-8.​
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LINK: Official Joan Jett Blakk Website

Juanita MORE! is a denizen of the limelight. For almost three decades the tireless hostess has blitzed San Francisco with high glamour, drag irreverence, danceable beats, culinary delectables, political activism and a philanthropic heart that has illuminated the entire city. Juanita remains a creation of fashion and glamour, generosity and nerve, inspiring those around her to make a positive difference in their lives and in their communities, doing it all with a timeless elegance and an innovative spirit.

LINK: Official Juanita MORE! Website

Jerome Caja was a master American painter and skag-drag performer. He was at the center of San Francisco  late 80’s and early 90’s queer counter culture movement of art, AIDS and activism. He used trash, found objects, and anything you might find in a drag queen’s hand bag (lipstick, eye liner, makeup, nail polish, etc.) as his medium of choice in his paintings and his apocalyptic drag. Jerome died in 1995 from complications related to HIV & AIDS. Twenty-five years after his death, our culture is only just now starting to catch up with his vision.​

LINK: Official Jerome Caja Website

To this day, these three drag sisters, Joan Jett Blakk, Juanita Moore & Jerome Caja, are pioneers. They challenge us in different ways with their own provocative political drag art.

​Marching for Gay Freedom as opposed to passively “Celebrating” “Pride” is a necessary return to the event’s origins as a protest (see Win Mixter’s Pride is a Protest website here). It is also a well-needed shift away from the toothless rainbow capitalism we have grown accustomed to for 20+ years.

If Jerome were alive today, he would have joined in this march. He would have scrounged up his Sunday best skimpy lingerie, slathered on some cheap makeup, and marched behind Joan Jett Blakk and Juanita Moore as their freaky white sister-caboose. The Jerome Project actually has vintage VHS footage of Jerome doing this. In the late 80’s and early 90’s Jerome marched with the Chaos & Uranus contingent in Gay Pride, and instead of joining everyone on the float, Jerome chose to walk alone, behind the truck, as his own freaky individual float. Like always he stole the show.

All of this is in direct alignment with everything Jerome believed in and painted — radical social change!

We Hope to See You There

​If for whatever reason you are unable to join us on Sunday June 28th, but would still like to contribute, you can also make a financial donation to the GoFundMe page for the People’s March & Rally here — THANK YOU & STAY SAFE!

It Is Moments Like This When I Miss Jerome the Most

Today I woke up and read the top news story of the day in the New York Times — “Civil Rights Law Protects L.G.B.T. Workers, Supreme Court Rules.” This is something so basic and fundamental that it’s shocking it even needed to be discussed in 2020. These are essential human rights we all deserve.

The first thought that crossed my mind after reading the Times headline was — “I cannot wait to see who is going to take to the streets today and celebrate!”
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Politics Jerome's Way

Back in the 90’s Jerome Caja was always one of the first to dress up in drag and take to the streets of San Francisco in celebration of major LGBTQ+ victories. He would create a fabulous, scary, creature-of-the-night drag persona and proudly strut like a mangy peacock through the streets and alleyways in broad daylight. He was also a fixture at all the queer street fairs and holiday celebrations (Folsom Street Fair, Dore Alley Fair, Castro Street Fair, Gay Freedom Day / Gay Pride Parade, etc).

Daniel Nicoletta’s 1990 photo is an iconic and famous picture that captures Jerome in skag-drag on Halloween night in front of the Castro Theater. What you might not know is that Jerome handmade his spongy jewelry, Flintstone-style hair comb, and the perky, ruby-red fruity nipples that spring forth from his little girly bra.

Jim James’s 1990 photo is also another iconic image of Jerome. Here he is in San Francisco’s Civic Center dressed as Konnie Krishna with her leopard skin lingerie, rubber bald cap and plastic food jewelry accessories (glazed doughnut earring & kielbasa chain-link necklace).

Jerome was well informed when it came to politics and valued the importance of the voting process — especially with regards to California and local issues. In true Jerome fashion, he did it his own way. Jerome would get the local papers and gay rags (Sentinel, B.A.R., Bay Guardian, Chronicle, Examiner), read up on politicians, and discuss politics with his friends.
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Activism Jerome's Way

Another lovely, little-known fact about Jerome is that he was an activist at heart, and he used his art as both a weapon and an educational tool. Jerome’s painting — The Happy Solders [sic], addressed 90’s politics about gays in the military and the heated controversy surrounding Senator Sam Nunn.

Nunn was a conservative Democratic politician who strongly supported the Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT) policy and actively worked to prevent gays and lesbians from serving in the military. 

This painting illustrates how Jerome resisted and protested through his art. He knew he had a platform and a medium that reached people. He powerfully shared his views and insights with his community and, ultimately, the world.

If you look closely at this painting, you will see how Jerome used symbolism and satire to tell a complex political story. Humor and horror, along with clever, contradictory images are all part of Jerome’s provocative, artistic arsenal. He painted Nunn as a demonic nun with blood on one hand and a fiery crucifix in the other. To make this piece even creepier, Nunn’s flesh was painted with glow-in-the-dark nail polish. To contrast Nunn’s evil, Jerome painted an interracial gay couple tenderly holding each other arm-in-arm. The yellow smiley face wearing an army helmet and war paint is a perfect expression of Jerome’s subversive, kitschy humor.
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2020 Foresight

The longer I study The Happy Solders, the more I realize Jerome was painting the future. Religious hypocrisy exposed; gays openly serving in the military; broad acceptance of interracial relationships —  Jerome served up all of this with his signature black humor. It’s a political fuck you that says, “I told you so!”  

Today was an extraordinary, historical decision by the Supreme Court to protect LGBTQ+ rights. I know that if Jerome were still alive today, he would have taken to the streets. We would have laughed together in celebration, and he surely would have painted about it too.
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Jerome Caja is Honored and Remembered for His Radical Self-Expression in San Francisco's “Art on Market Street Poster Series” —  June through August 2020

Check out Win Mixter’s new “JEROME CAJA: Pride is a Protest” poster on the Muni bus shelter at the northeast corner of 7th & Market in San Francisco's Tenderloin district. It is part of the “Art on Market Street Poster Series” from the San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC), in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Gay Freedom Day.

It is a fabulous, large, double-sided, B&W poster. If you look closely, Win Mixter incorporates all of Jerome’s iconic imagery from his paintings and drag performances (nailpolish bottles, crucifixes, scary clowns, eggs, birds, worms, cocks, lingerie, smiley faces, frowning faces, and angel wings). In the center is a powerful portrait inspired by Catherine Opie’s famous 1993 cibachrome print of Jerome. I love that Win chose to have Jerome’s eyes closed. It perfectly captures Jerome’s centrality and centeredness during the explosive years of AIDS, activism, and art in San Francisco during the late 80’s and early 90’s.
 
Thank you Win Mixter and SFAC for including Jerome Caja in your 2020 Art on Market Street Series.

I also want to do a very special shout-out to Craig Corpora (Public Art Programming Associate at SFAC) for constantly keeping Jerome’s spirit alive in San Francisco — THANK YOU CRAIG!

Jerome Caja (detail) 1993
by Catherine Opie​​