This March on our Mezzanine Gallery, we present photographs and materials from the archives of Dr. Lynda S. Robertson.
Punk emerged from the political and economic turbulence of the mid 1970’s. As unemployment rose, many rallied against the establishment, with this counterculture leading to an aesthetic shaped by limited resources that enabled music to give a voice to the unrest.
Punk Politika captures a vivid fragment of social and cultural history through the lens of Dr. Lynda S. Robertson. The exhibition features street portraits taken in Glasgow on 11 September 1982, and photographs from The Damned concert at Tiffany’s on Sauchiehall Street in the city on 15 October 1982, all captured on an Olympus OM1 camera.
The exhibition also features a wall panel scored, sprayed, and tagged by punk and rock bands that once shook the stage of London’s legendary Marquee Club. Seminal punk bands including the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned expressed their raw energy at the iconic club on Wardour Street in Soho. When the venue closed in 1988, fragments of its dressing-room walls were saved from demolition, including the wall panel on display here.
About the artist:
Dr. Lynda S. Robertson DCA. FRSA is an award- winning designer and photographer. Initially a graphic designer, Robertson then studied textiles at Glasgow School of Art and fashion at St. Martins School of Art in London. As a fashion designer, she created collections for prestigious companies prior to establishing her own label which sold to, amongst others, Valentino and Versace, Sting, and Peter Gabriel. With a lifelong interest in the power of image, Robertson continues to use photography to record and as a working tool for her creativity.