Landmark new exhibition is celebrating 50 years of female punk
God Save the Queens — The Museum of Youth Culture is bringing together rare photography, archive material and a one-night-only supergroup featuring members of X-Ray Spex, The Slits and The Raincoats.
Fifty years after women helped shape punk’s music, art and identity, their legacy is being celebrated with a new London exhibition and a one-night-only performance bringing musicians from across generations together.
The centrepiece is Up Yours! God Save the Queens, a free exhibition at the Museum of Youth Culture running from 22 October to 22 November. It brings together rare and previously unseen photography, artwork, clothing, ephemera and music documenting the women who helped define the movement.
The exhibition will feature images of artists including The Slits, X‑Ray Spex, The Raincoats, Debbie Harry, Neneh Cherry, Chrissie Hynde, Siouxsie Sioux, Pauline Black and Rhoda Dakar, alongside work by photographers including Janette Beckman, Ray Stevenson, David Corio and Virginia Turbett.
- Read next: Throwback portraits of the UK’s first punks
The celebration will also hit the stage at Electric Brixton on 16 October, where a one-night-only female punk supergroup will bring together members of X‑Ray Spex, The Slits, The Raincoats, The Specials, The Bodysnatchers and Big Joanie. They’ll be joined by artists including Hot Wax, Bishi and Vivien Goldman for a 75-minute performance reimagining songs associated with Poly Styrene alongside punk anthems.
The gig will include a rare X‑Ray Spex reunion, with original members Lora Logic and Paul Dean performing together for the first time since Poly Styrene’s death. They’ll be joined by her daughter, Celeste Bell, who will perform her mother’s songs.
Bell is also one of the exhibition’s three curators, alongside Lauren Estelle Jones and writer and broadcaster Vivien Goldman. The show draws heavily on her work preserving Poly Styrene’s archive, including previously unheard demos.
“Curating my mother’s archive proved how important it is to protect female counter-cultural history,” Bell says. “Through Up Yours! Collective, we’re taking that legacy out of the archives and putting it where it belongs: centre stage.”
The exhibition is part of the wider God Save the Queens programme, which has been running across London throughout 2026 with events exploring the influence of women on punk and DIY music.
Up Yours! God Save the Queens runs at the Museum of Youth Culture from 22 October to 22 November. The one-night-only gig takes place at Electric Brixton on 16 October – tickets available here.
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