Sci-Fi, Magick, Queer L.A.: Sexual Science and the Imagini-nation
At One Archives at the USC Libraries
August 22 – November 23, 2025
USC Fisher Museum of Art
January 14, – March 15, 2025
Irrefutably, Los Angeles has always been a destination for eccentrics seeking personal transformation. In what other city could a pioneering rocket scientist lead occult rituals, a satanic Hollywood studio secretary publish one of the first lesbian zines, or a communist musicologist forever transform queer identity? This is only further underscored by the fascinating exhibition, Sci-Fi, Magick, Queer L.A.: Sexual Science and the Imagini-nation.
According to curator Alexis Bard Johnson, “We started looking at the large holdings in One Archives that, on the surface, seemed just like sci-fi material, particularly in Jim Kepner’s collection and our periodicals collection. That amount of material got us thinking, what is the deeper connection? We knew that Kepner was a member of the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society (LASFS), and we started down that rabbit hole to see who else was involved with LASFS.” Answering this question was a journey into the overlapping worlds of science fiction fandom, occult societies and queer activism between 1930 and 1960 in Los Angeles.
Visitors first encounter the world of Los Angeles sci-fi fandom in the form of fanzines, photographs, and other ephemera. Of particular note is the bright red illustrated cover of the music score, Hymn to Satan, words and music by Tigrina the Devil Doll. Tigrina was the pen name of Edythe Eyde (1921-2015). Raised in a rural and strictly religious community, she rebelled vigorously. Eyde discovered the world of sci-fi through the pages of Voice of the Imagi-Nation, a fanzine published by Forrest Ackerman. After making her way to Los Angeles in the 1940s, she joined the LASFS and found employment working in the offices of RKO studio where she clandestinely published an early lesbian zine, Vice Versa, under the pen name Lisa Ben, an anagram of lesbian.
Another gallery focuses on the occult and brings together a stunning collection of visionary drawings and paintings by Cameron (Margaret Elisbeth Cameron). Standouts include two large pen and ink drawings, East Angel . The compositions are eye-catching from across the gallery, and as one is drawn closer, the pair of angels reveal fine linework in blue ink on paper. They hover weightlessly, their golden robes wafting in the ether. This otherworldly draftsmanship is perhaps explained by the fact that Cameron often practiced automatic drawing while in trances. Cameron also incorporates central characters in the gender-bending films featured in the gallery, including Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (1954-66) by Kenneth Anger and The Wormwood Star (1956) by Curtis Harrington.
Cameron was the wife of Jack Parsons, founder of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and member of the secret society Ordo Templi Orientist lead by British occultist Aleister Crowley from 1925-1947. Harry Hay compiled musical scores and played organ for Gnostic Masses performed by O.T.O. These scores were drawn from diverse sources such Wagner’s Parsifal and compositions by John Cage. Hay would go on to co-find the gay rights organization, Mattachine Society a few years later, in 1950. After Hay and Kepner left the Mattachine Society they both became involved with One Magazine.
The third part of the exhibition surveys sci-fi communities and highlights the work of Morris Scott Dollens (1920-1944). Dollens was an active photographer, painter and contributor to fanzines for decades. While Dollens never identified publicly as queer, there are clear homoerotic themes in his work and associations with gay publications. On exhibit is the back cover from a 1963 Physique Pictorial issue, published by Bob Miser. The photograph is a double exposure of a nude male figure planted on an alien landscape gazing upward at a rocket ship in flight. The figure is pure beefcake in the style of Athletic Model Guild, while the background is one of Dollens’ sci-fi paintings of an imaginary planet. The titillating result is pure sci-fi kitsch underpinned by a naive aspirational thread that weaves throughout the entire exhibition.
Johnson explains how, “Looking at the historical perspective definitely gives me some solace and a blueprint for how to band together to work outside the mainstream. Sci-fi wasn’t a panacea, but it allowed folks to imagine a different way of being in a future outside the mainstream. That’s where the exhibition is both really hopeful and helpful.”
The exhibition is part of the Getty Foundation’s PST ART: Art and Science Collide, a five month initiative involving more than seventy related exhibitions at museums, galleries, and public spaces throughout Southern California. If you weren’t able to visit the exhibition don’t fret, Inventory Press has published a sumptuous catalog that is widely available.
Mark Timothy Hayward, a creative director and artist based in Los Angeles, is co-founder of the zine collective, Mattazine Society.
