Montez Press

We decided really quickly to do something in response to the Supreme Court ruling. We came up with 12 different designs. One of them was almost axed. It said “fuck the law” because honestly we’re quite angry and honestly, fuck that law. We also decided to use one of JJ’s drawings, Ellis 2021, a portrait of one of Vivienne‘s exes - as barber tools in colour pencils - observed from a time during lockdown when Ellis was cutting JJ’s hair. The text on the back repurposes the 70s feminist quote: biology is not destiny. The image of Montez wearing heels came in a flash of divine inspiration to Vivienne and then JJ expertly mocked it up. We offer you one T-shirt for the punks: ‘fuck the law’, and one for the lovers: the barbers tools for transformation, on pink. We love Montez. We love trans rights and we’re upset that all this shit is happening and there’s not much we can do except get together. Raise some money for a good law and have a nice time. Trans people have always existed and always will - as Eve Sedgwick said ‘get used to it.’

- Vivienne Griffin and JJ Johnson

*All proceeds from this design will go to The Good Law Project, in support of their legal challenge against the transphobic ruling by the UK supreme court. In the purchase section there is the option to buy a ticket for our fundraiser, along with a tee, on Saturday 15th June at Next Door Records Two.

JJ Johnson (b. Brighton 1985) lives and works in London. JJ has been showing films, paintings, and performances for over 10 years, exploring subjects ranging from friendship in expat communities in New Delhi, to polyamory navigated via dating apps, to genderfluid bio-reproduction, queer family-making, and the politics of assisted reproduction. JJ has been commissioned by Drawing Room and Barbican Public Spaces and has presented work in the UK at: Modern Art Oxford; ICA; Jerwood; Almanac Projects; Bonington Gallery; New Contemporaries; and internationally at: TULCA Galway; Queer Archive Festival Athens; CAC + Rupert, Vilnius; CCI Fabrika, Moscow; Place Des Arts, Montreal; Devos Museum, Michigan. Their debut feature DIY documentary what's safe, what's gross, what's selfish and what's stupid premiered at BFI Flare in 2024. JJ is completing a DPhil at Ruskin, University of Oxford, and teaches Fine Art at Goldsmiths University.

Vivienne Griffin was born in Dublin, Ireland. Griffin studied fine art at Hunter City University New York supported by a Fulbright Scholarship. Moving between experimental sound and art, through the digital and the human voice, Griffin is an anti-disciplinary artist who uses video, sound and sculpture. As a form of anti-capitalism Griffin aims to reclaim the emancipatory prompts that technology can offer us through vocal processing, live performance, video and installations. Griffin won an Oram award in 2021 for a video game titled The Fake Haven. They recently completed their Phd titled Synthetic Feelings at SARC: Interdisciplinary Research in Sound and Music.