PUNK: Rage and Revolution
- davinahawthorne
- Mar 20
- 4 min read
Christina Wigmore
Images: Punk: Rage & Revolution 2023
As 2022 ended, and 45 years had passed since ‘God Save The Queen’ was released by the Sex Pistols, the band’s proclamation of ‘No Future’ seemed to ring true once again. Social and political issues relevant in the late 70s were back, or did they ever go away? What progress has society really made in those 45 years since the Punk youth subculture shocked, raged and kicked against authority and a system and society that held nothing for working-class youth.
The Winter of Discontent 1977 -79 came back to haunt us in 2022-23, with low-paid workers striking due to the cost of living crisis, and kicking back against the obscene and irresponsible greed and corruption of our Government. Warnings of power cuts hung over us driven by the resurgence of a cold war with Russia and the Ukraine invasion, causing high energy prices. Black Lives Matters held a mirror to the Rock Against Racism movement, and have women’s rights and freedom really moved on with the #MeToo movement, highlighting men’s derogatory and abusive behaviour towards women and girls in society?
Back in the late 70s, young people questioned authority and the status quo. They had the freedom and will to say ‘we don’t like this’ and they expressed their rebellion through subverting fashion, music and art. Punk swept across Britain fuelled by media headlines of the controversial Sex Pistols interview by Bill Grundy on the Thames TV Today Programme, when John Lydon and Steve Jones' four letter outbursts made front page news and caused national outrage whilst making them household names.
“The emergence of punk in Britain (1976–1978) is recalled and documented as a moment of rebellion, one in which youth culture was seen to challenge accepted values and forms of behaviour, and to set in motion a new kind of cultural politics. (Street, Worley, Wilkinson 2018)
Images: Punk: Rage & Revolution 2023
Cue Punk: Rage & Revolution, an inclusive intergenerational exhibition showcased in Leicester May-September 2023 produced by an innovative and creative partnership between local charity Soft Touch Arts, design agency Arch Creative and social history author and curator Shaun Knapp. The exhibition (May 27th – 2nd September 2023) shone a light on this irreverent, creative youth subculture which adopted a DIY approach to fashion, music and art through necessity, but which continues to influence designers, musicians and artists in style, aesthetics, ethos and political and social values.
The story of the Leicester and UK British Punk subculture involved those that were part of the scene with young people from Leicester charity ‘Soft Touch Arts’ forming part of the exhibition curation team, learning directly from the Leicester Punks and contributing their ideas and reflections on what Punk means now. Through a series of creative projects and briefs, they learned about Punk, comparing the social and political climate then and now, expressing what they learned through art, fanzines, fashion, music, dance, hair & make-up and styling. Wider engagement of young people from open calls, Leicester schools and colleges and the involvement of De Montfort University Arts, Design & Humanities and Media Departments enabled around 250 young people to be directly involved in the project. Their work sat alongside loans by Leicester Punks and Leicester born Roger K Burton’s superb collection of Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McClaren originals from Let it Rock, Too Fast To Live, Too Young To Die, Sex & Seditionaries. Showing these items was all the more poignant with the news of the death of the wonderful fashion maverick Dame Vivienne Westwood in 2022, who gave young people permission to subvert and rebel through what they wore. The exhibition also showcased Jamie Reid’s 7-metre mural telling the story of Punk, and The Leicester Gallery at De Montfort University hosted an exhibition of Reid’s activism art. In August 2023 LCB Depot hosted a selection of DMU student work in response to the briefs set to tie in with the Punk Rage & Revolution project.
In January 2024 the project & exhibition won the National Lottery Project of the Year Award for England.
Images: Punk: Rage & Revolution 2023
My own involvement in the project stretches back to the late 70s when I was on the fringes of the Leicester Punk scene, and the creativity, anti-establishment ethos and DIY aesthetic crept into my life and has shaped it ever since. While I worked for Soft Touch Arts and with that hat on, I was part of the development, production and curation team for the project and exhibition. With my other hat on I was an MA Textiles student at DMU creating work in response to the narratives and stories recounted by Leicester Punks and utilising the rich archive of material we uncovered through research and interviews
Punk: Rage & Revolution opened at Leicester Museum & Art Gallery on 27th May 2023 and ran until September 3rd 2023. A tie in Cultureclash festival took place across the city on the weekend of August 18-21st 2023. To see the archive of the project and exhibition visit:
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