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Artworks

Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Caroline Coon, Dave Vanian, lead singer of the Damned, in the front of the Marsan bullring, 1976

Caroline Coon

Dave Vanian, lead singer of the Damned, in the front of the Marsan bullring, 1976
Gelatin Silver Print
30.6 x 24.2 cms
12 1/16 x 9 8/16 ins
7633
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Provenance

Donated by the Hyman Collection. All profits go to the Centre for British Photography.
A bull ring at Mont de Marsan in the south of France saw the first European Punk Rock Festival on 21 August 1976. Playing their fifth gig, The Damned were...
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A bull ring at Mont de Marsan in the south of France saw the first European Punk Rock Festival on 21 August 1976. Playing their fifth gig, The Damned were joined by French bands Bijou, Il Biaritz and Shakin' Street. Here we see the lead singer of the Damned, Dave Vanian, from behind. The message on his t-shirt, I'm no superstar, I'm not dead yet, with blood dripping from the words, and the skulls both dangling from his earring and printed onto the t-shirt, not only show the extreme and often dark Punk trends, but also prefigure Goth subculture.

Coon's famous photographs of the early Punk bands, including the Sex Pistols and The Clash (whom she managed from 1978-1980), reflect her own status as intimate and insider. She has earned a unique place in British Culture: a counter-culture activist in the 1960s, a leading protagonist in the early years of British Punk and a photographer and painter. Coon also continues to work as a feminist agitator, political activist and social campaigner: particular causes include the legalising of drugs and of prostitution.
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