Phranc

Phranc, the All-American Jewish Lesbian Folksinger, is an internationally acclaimed performer and visual artist whose work uses both humor and anger to interrogate traditional gender perspectives. She writes, records, performs, and creates paper sculptures that tell stories, document history, honor Amazons, and protest injustice. She has forged her butch identity in cardboard, on stage, and on album covers. As a teenager she attended The Feminist Studio Workshop at The Woman’s Building where she focused on songwriting and silk-screening. In the late 1970s, she was a member of bands Nervous Gender and Catholic Discipline in the Los Angeles punk rock scene. As a reaction to punk violence and use of the swastika, she wrote a song called ​“Take off Your Swastika” and began identifying on stage as The All-American Jewish Lesbian Folksinger and released her first solo album Folksinger in 1985. She has performed in venues across North America, Great Britain and Europe including The Getty Center, Irving Plaza, Metropol, and Hammersmith Odeon. She is a Teaching Artist at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Phranc is currently working on a multi-media memoir, ​“Phranc Talk.”

“The Butch Closet,” an installation hosted by the Institute for the Humanities gallery, is a retrospective spanning over 40 years of her life as a queer artist and Cardboard Cobbler. Phranc contextualizes her experience within the historical backdrop of second-wave feminism and queer activism, exploring the evolution of her butch persona alongside societal shifts in gender identity. Using paper, cardboard, thread, and found materials, Phranc meticulously recreates personal objects like her Baby Quilt and Lamb Chop Halloween Costume. These handcrafted pieces delve into themes of memory, personal history, and nostalgia, tracing her life against the backdrop of LA’s artistic, musical, and revolutionary scenes from the 1960s to the present.

“The Butch Closet” opens directly following this event at the Institute for the Humanities gallery with an opening reception and artist meet and greet.

Phranc is part of Gender Euphoria, a semester-long explosion of queer artists and art-making. These performances, exhibitions, conversations, and provocations explore how to make art and find queer joy in a state of emergency.

Presented in partnership with the University of Michigan Institute for the Humanities. This project was made possible by a grant from the Arts Initiative at the University of Michigan.

Series presenting partners: Detroit PBS and PBS Books. Media partner: Michigan Radio.