Short-sleeved shirt with sperm screen-print

After the demise of Auckland punk band The Features (1979–80) guitarist Jed Town went on to form the post-punk cooperative Fetus Productions. He wore this shirt on stage in combination with a rubber mask, while dark and disturbing images were projected over the band. Playing his guitar was intense, so
 he regularly ended up playing until his fingers were bleeding, an effect he liked to enhance with the addition of fake blood and some of the blood has been preserved on this shirt. Anyone who wanted to join Fetus could 
but regular band members included Jed as Jed Torn, Serum Delirium (Sarah Fort), and Mike Broxin (designer Mike Brookfield). Mike went on to establish the Virus fashion label.  Read more about wearing the colour black in the New Zealand Fashion Museum publication Black: The history of black in fashion, society and culture in New Zealand.

Details

Credit: Garment loan courtesy of Jed Town
Copyright: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 Licence
Copyright: Image © Jonathan Ganley
Designer: Mike Brookfield
Garment type: Shirt
Material: Cotton, hand-drawn screen-print
Colour: Black
Label: Fetus Productions
Date: 1983