Black and white photograph of a band playing in a small venue. In the foreground, the lead singer is a woman with short, bleach blonde hair who is playing a guitar and screaming into a microphone. The bass player is standing behind the singer. There is a large audience of young punks surrounding the stage.

Playing for Ourselves, Playing for a Revolution: A History of Queer and Feminist Punk in San Francisco

26 August - 06 October 2024
Skylight Gallery - 6th Floor
Main Library
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100 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
United States

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Playing for Ourselves, Playing for a Revolution: A History of Queer and Feminist Punk in San Francisco highlights the legacies of queer and women performers, bands and scene makers who shaped San Francisco’s punk and new wave scene during the late 1970s and early to mid1980s. The exhibition celebrates the empowering connections between punk’s early days in San Francisco and the queer liberation and women’s rights movements. Bands like the Avengers, the Nuns, the Offs, Screamers, Romeo Void and Frightwig are represented.

The exhibition explores how punk culture fit into San Francisco’s free-spirited and progressive artistic ethos, allowing queer and women musicians to create unique communities distinct from major punk hubs like New York, London and Los Angeles. These artists harnessed punk’s energy and immediacy for self-expression to challenge the issues and injustices faced by women and queer communities. While primarily focused on the first decade of San Francisco punk (19771986), the exhibition also features items from Bay Area queer and feminist punk in the late 1980s to the present, highlighting the enduring influence that made San Francisco punk so special in the first place.

Opening Reception Thursday, September 5, 5:30–7 p.m. Skylight Gallery. Light refreshments will be served. 

Exhibition curated by Kit Ortega, USF Museum Studies ProgramIntern for the San Francisco History Center. For more information about the exhibition, access the Exhibition Guide

Photo credit: The Situations performing at the Mabuhay Gardens from the San Francisco Punk Collection. 


 


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