Think of Londons fleeting Punk scene and images of skinny men wielding guitars spring to mind, but in reality a fleet of no-fucks-given women pushed the sound, style and community of Punk out into the big wide world and a new exhibition in Camdens Museum of Youth Culture finally pays them their dues.
Vivienne Westwood and Jordan sculpted the style, Sioux Sioux and Poly Styrene led the sound, and arguably women added the nuance of meaning to an anarchic, self-destructive subculture that would otherwise have burnt itself out without actually challenging much. (That might be a bit of an exaggaration..)
Reading through the biography, Vivienne Westwoodby by Jane Mulvagh, its clear that actually the male musicians involved in Punk were trying to shock and provoke with the way they looked an sounded, but when you contrast songs like ‘God Save The Queen’ which expresses a nihilistic anger at the social and economic state of Britain (by the Sex Pistols), with ‘Oh Bondage! Up Yours!’ (By female-fronted X-Ray Spex) - an energetic, angry anthem that is anti-consumerism, anti-authoritarian and also fiercely feminist it is clear that (as usual) women’s involvement in Punk pushed the envelope further, introduced more complex issues of gender rebellion into the mix and helped to make this a sentimental protest, not just a physical one.
The Museum of Youth culture is a relatively new space, and registered CIO that pays homage exclusively to a social group who are often dismissed - youths. We’ve all seen screaming Taylor Swift fans dismissed as silly fangirls, and beauty lovers as vain young girls - but young people’s interests fund billion dollar businesses. Young people adapt and tap into what is new, young people inherently rebel as they grapple with finding their own autonomy and challenging what came before them, young people are quite literally the body image and style icons that the whole fashion industry is chasing - yet their contributions to culture are so rarely given the recognition they deserve.
Let’s be real, women live under so many more expectations with so many more ‘rules’ to rebel against, and have so much more to be angry about.
The exhibition is a small exploration, with walls plastered in loads of photos taken in the green room of CBGB’s and in the streets of London, videos to dip into, hand painted leather jackets hung from the ceiling and even some iconic zines like Sniffin’ Glue to peek at. It did strike me how fun during an exhibition in Punk must me - without the restraints of clean presentation on spacious white walls and glass-bound minimal plinths, it gives some kind of permission to cram content into every space, and collage a vision together in a more immersive way.
It’s open till December 20 - go check it out. Long Live the Queens!