Re-sisters

Cosey Fanni Tutti

FABER A celebration of three trailblazing women united across the centuries.

A fearless force of nature, industrial music pioneer, artist, provocateur and Throbbing Gristle founding member, Cosey Fanni Tutti told the story of her own extraordinary life in her whip-smart autobiography Art Sex Music in 2017. In her new book (subtitled The Lives And Recordings Of Delia Derbyshire, Margery Kempe And Cosey Fanni Tutti) she follows the threads that connect her with two similarly passionate, creative women: Delia Derbyshire, the genius composer for the BBC’s Radiophonic Workshop who paved the way for the electronic music boom (and gifted us, most famously, with Ron Grainer’s Doctor Who theme tune), and Margery Kempe, a pious 15th-century mystic credited as the author of the first Englishlanguage autobiography.

Overflowing with affection for the two other women, Cosey draws parallels between them and her own drive to create, to be taken seriously as an artistic force, and to be unafraid to express herself on her own terms. Derbyshire often found herself patronised by the hypermale institution she infiltrated, but persevered thanks to her conviction in her own technical knowledge and talent. Kempe, like the author when presenting some of her more controversial artworks, was reviled and mistrusted by the community around her. A particularly upsetting description of rape and coercion demonstrates exactly how, in the 1970s, women’s bodies were still viewed as male possessions.

Re-sisters is far from a misery memoir, though. It’s a joyful celebration of female energy, individuality and creativity, written by a warm and engaging storyteller.