Last night, at the British Library’s Punk 1976-78 exhibition, Viv Albertine proved she was the most punk of them all when she defaced the exhibition’s blurb for ignoring the vast contributions women made to punk. There at an event with journalist Jon Savage, to celebrate 40 years of the countercultural movement, Albertine was clearly incensed that once again, women have been written out of the punk narrative. “What about the women” wrote the Slits guitarist on the introductory blurb that praised bands like the Sex Pistols, the Buzzcocks, and The Clash, for their “vital cultural legacy” before crossing out their names and replacing them with X-Ray Spex, Siouxsie & the Banshees, and, of course, The Slits. Now that’s what we call punk.
Credits
Text Tish Weinstock
Image via @FaberSocial