“Riot Grrrl, 90s Feminist Punk, and the NME”: Exhibition Launch and Discussion Panel

The “Riot Grrrl, 90s Feminist Punk, and the NME” forthcoming exhibition at Parkside has been curated and designed by Jem Thorp – a 3rd Year undergraduate student studying Design for Performance at the School of Art, and has been commissioned by Dr Pedro Cravinho, ADM’S Keeper of the Archives. It was selected as the last academic year’s winning project of Design for Performance’s Live Brief module, in which Design for Performance Students conducted research at the Arts, Design and Media Archive on the New Musical Express Collection. Jem’s project was focused on exposing sexism within the music scene, and how punk musicians in the Riot Grrrl movement fought back against it. The “Riot Grrrl, 90s Feminist Punk, and the NME” exhibition is part of BCU’s International Women’s Day 2024 celebration. 

The exhibition launch will be followed by a panel discussion featuring queercore band TRANSISTRRR’s members Lexi, Jess, and Osie – “3 trans girls screaming loud and fast songs about anti-capitalism, anti-imperialism, anti-fascism and trans love in a scary world”. This event is co-organised by the BCMCR Events team, BCMCR Popular Music Cluster and the Arts, Design and Media Archives, and will feature gender and sexuality researcher Dr Gemma Commane, popular music culture scholar Dr Asya Draganova, and – of course – the artist behind the exhibition Jem Thorp. In the discussion, we will be exploring the historic and contemporary significance of Riot Grrrl in punk music and popular culture.