Genesis P-Orridge’s Fluid, Transformative Identities | Film Screening

From an early age, Genesis P-Orridge “did not trust the society she inherited.”

This perspective led them to a lifelong radical expression as an experimental musician, poet, performance artist, visual artist, gender revolutionary, and occultist known as Genesis P-Orridge. Much of her art shocked the public and spoke to a misunderstood generation. P-Orridge believed that one could not make mistakes in art; one simply “didn’t like it for some people.”

Filmmaker David Charles Rodrigues directed the documentary “S/he is Still Her/e” about P-Orridge’s life and cultural impact. It was filmed in the last year of his life and stars William Burroughs, Brion Gyson, Timothy Leary and a special appearance by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. It will be presented at the Orcas Center on Saturday, September 14 at 7:00 p.m. Rodriguez will lead a Q&A after the screening. Warning: the film contains scenes of sex and self-harm.

Genesis P-Orridge, born Neil Andrew Megson, died in 2020 at the age of 70. His surname comes from the Book of Genesis because “that’s the thing; everything is creativity.”

“It wasn’t that I wanted a funny name. It was that I wanted to control my life story,” P-Orridge says in the video.

Rodrigues, who lives in Los Angeles, said he had always liked P-Orridge’s music, but “when I discovered her work, I fell in love with her universe.”

The New York Times wrote this beautiful, bitter article about Gen being diagnosed with terminal leukemia,” Rodrigues said. “I was very moved by it, and long before I met Gen, she visited me in a dream and said she would give me all the knowledge she had by putting her hands on mine. And then all these other coincidences happened, and I ended up going to her apartment in New York to talk.”

They spent 12 hours together before Rodrigues dared to tell her about his dream.

“She pulled out a book with a quote from Brion Gyson that said wisdom can only be passed on through the touch of hands. We made a spiritual agreement then and there that I would spend the rest of her life capturing that knowledge.”

P-Orridge rose to prominence as a founding member of the experimental music group Throbbing Gristle in the mid-1970s. They were at the forefront of the industrial music movement, utilizing avant-garde techniques, electronic sounds, and provocative themes.

After Throbbing Gristle disbanded in 1981, P-Orridge founded Psychic TV, an influential experimental music and multimedia collective that incorporated elements of psychedelia, punk, and industrial music. P-Orridge’s exploration of spirituality, gender identity, and mysticism became a central theme of their work. In addition to his musical endeavors, P-Orridge was a prolific visual artist, creating collages, sculptures, and mixed-media installations that reflected their interest in chaos magic, body modification, and alternative spirituality.

Islander Jared Lovejoy presents the film to audiences on Orcas.

“I’m thrilled to be able to share this film with the Orcas community,” Lovejoy said. “I met Genesis when I was 19, when they were on tour in Seattle. I was a huge house music fan, and their band Psychic TV was producing great house music in the late ’80s. I ended up dancing with them at their shows in Seattle and later in New York. Genesis and I talked about culture as an artistic medium, and I found that very inspiring.”

Lovejoy recalls that P-Orridge called herself a “cultural engineer,” a term that stuck with him for years.

“I doubt I would have started doing my job if I hadn’t met Genesis and been inspired by his way of questioning and combining cultural influences, thereby creating events and experiences that hadn’t been seen before,” Lovejoy said.

Rodrigues interviewed P-Orridge until her death, and her children gave him a hard drive and full access to their art collection. His most significant takeaway from the process is that “humans have a power that we don’t tap into, which is that you can wake up every morning and be someone else. There are so many possibilities where identity can take you.”

“I hope people come to the film without expectations, with an open mind and an open heart,” he said. “Fasten your seatbelts and go on a journey.”