Central Saint Martins have recently added a full run of the magazine Square Peg to our special collections. The magazine was a queer take on arts, culture and politics. It was founded in Derek Jarman’s living room in 1983 and released quarterly up to 1992.
Despite featuring a number of high-profile creatives and running for 9 years, there are very few surviving collections and ours is currently the only full run held at a UK university. Along with the magazine itself we have a collection of ephemera including flyers, handmade postcards, original cover art, press sheets and party tickets.
Published during a period when the UK mainstream media was frequently and openly hostile to LGBTQ subject matter, Square Peg is a defiant celebration of queerness. Self-described as a “journal for contemporary perverts” the magazine was unapologetically sex-positive.
This was in the face of the raging AIDS epidemic and associated sense of emboldened homophobia seen in the pages of newspapers of the time. S&M photoshoots, articles on lesbian pornography and interviews with sex workers all featured alongside promotion of safer sex practices and advice for the many members of the community affected by the AIDS crisis.
Unlike other queer magazines of the era Square Peg strove for gender parity in its content, with articles on lesbian parenting appearing alongside ads for men-only kink clubs. It incorporated experimental artwork and writing as well as cultural reviews and articles on current topics and debates.
Sold mainly at nightclubs and parties and a few LGBTQ+ bookshops, the magazine retained its counter-cultural spirit throughout the run despite its relatively high production values. The Time Out review of the first issue described it as having “the air of an art school house-mag” (Time Out, 24-30 June 1983).
The aesthetic is much bolder than other ‘pink-press’ publications of the era, with its distinctive square format and visuals from a wide range of artists. Photographer Rotimi Fani-Kayode was a regular contributor and featured artists include Del LaGrace Volcano, Sunil Gupta, David Robilliard, Kathy Acker and many more.
Queer publications like this are ephemeral by nature, particularly those created in a pre-internet era. There’s very little information about the publication available online. Awareness of Square Peg appears to mainly reside with those who contributed to it or bought a copy at the time.
I hope that the inclusion of the magazine at CSM library will open this fantastic resource up to researchers who may not be aware of the magazine or have had access previously. Researchers interested in UK queer history, DIY magazine publishing, journalism, sexual politics, photography, graphic design, community building and more will find plenty of thought-provoking material within the pages of Square Peg.
How to Access
Details of each issue including lists of contributors, as well as information about the accompanying ephemera collection, can be found on our library catalogue, and can be viewed on request at CSM Library. Researchers outside of UAL can book a visit to CSM library here.
For further information on Square Peg including links to works by and about a number of the magazine’s founders and contributors please see our resources list.