Thinking about punk and how it failed to include so many people in its insurrection, when angry white
males dominated the genre, but how despite this dominant position many artists have reclaimed and
transformed punk. So i started researching and thinking about how WICKKED queer, trans & non binary
folk, women, people of colour and all the other folk that were excluded from the genre, are for taking
punk back and making it their own.
scenes from protests (2019-ongoing):
a helicopter hanging over us at hyde park. that helicopter has not moved since. every time i’ve been through central since, it’s still there, watching.
17 different haircuts around me, tattoos, doc martens, denim jackets, badges, piercings, college green turning into a sea of mud
rains, rains, rains, rains, rains
multi coloured thread being wrapped around my wrist as i sit on the steps of tate britain
cameras pointing at me, coming close up to my face, snapping, as i decide whether to look at them or not
soggy cardboard, running ink spelling ‘FUCK TRUMP’, blowing in the wind
a white man draped in an eu flag asking my friend, a south asian woman, to pose for a photo, saying ‘we need more coloureds here’.
reggae songs, wartime songs, club songs, anthems, raps, poems, marching songs.
joining hands to sing.
an ex-royal opera house ballerina, treading barefoot over concrete, arabesquing in jeggings
words i never imagined being a part of and now abuse like vodka: comrade / brethren / workers of the world / unite
somewhere beyond my sight and hearing, john boyega, a speck over a horizon of bodies
british flags, indian flags, american flags trod on, spat on, recoloured
taxi drivers, lorry drivers honking with/at us, shouting with/at us
smartphones held aloft heaven-wards
masks, masks, masks, masks, masks
passing anonymous vans, nondescript cars, cops watching us from inside, their hands raising to their mouths, silently chattering.
lying on the ground. chalk etching around me
the sun breaking through the clouds, and, like a corps-de-ballet, we all remove our coats.
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