Top image: Soho, 1978 © Derek Ridgers. Courtesy of The Photographers’ Gallery, London

The Photographers’ Gallery have announced their forthcoming Punk Weekender, marking forty years of punk influence. Tracing the subculture’s timeline from it’s origins through to present day, the weekend of special events lines up an eclectic mix of artistic mediums and influential names.

Taking place 23–26 June, the weekend-long event is chock-a-block with gems. As you’d expect, photography takes centre-stage; whilst a series of never seen images by photographer Shirley Baker depict Camden market at the height of punk – all spiked hair and studded cheeks – a digital presentation showcasing iconic work by Janette Beckman, Anita Corbin, Owen Harvey, Derek Ridgers and Gavin Watson alongside images from Photographic Youth Music and Culture Archive and EMI Archive looks at how the scene involved and affected later counterculture movements including skinheads, mods and suedeheads.

Other highlights include an exclusively commissioned timeline from SHOWstudio formed around interviews between Nick Knight and key punk figures, a screening of Derek Jarman’s satirical 1978 film Jubilee starring Adam Ant and Toyah Willcox, and a special performance by The Raincoats, a defining all female punk band and one of Kurt Cobain’s personal favs.

On top of all this, The Photographers’ Gallery in collaboration with Sonos Studio presents Swagger & Spit. Exhibiting from 17th May, the exhibition delves into the archives of acclaimed subculture and street photographers Derek Ridgers and Janette Beckman, featuring portraits of Adam Ant, Joan Jett, Lydia Lunch, Siouxsie Sioux, Poly Styrene and many more of punk’s key players.

For more information on the above events and to purchase tickets for The Raincoats gig click here