Janette Beckman’s work has spanned more than five decades. As a portrait and documentary photographer, she captured the rise of punk in seventies London, as well as soundsystem culture, skinhead, ska and mod revival movements during the onset of Thatcher’s Britain.
Growing up in North London, Beckman was surrounded by art and culture from a young age. Enrolling on a course at Saint Martins, she initially envisioned becoming a portrait artist like David Hockney, though she never thought her drawings were good enough. Eventually, she decided to study photography at The London College of Printing. After leaving college, she taught photography for a while before landing a job working for magazines Melody Maker and later The Face – photographing everyone from The Sex Pistols, The Clash, Siouxsie Sioux and The Specials.
"Punk is an irrepressible attitude. It brought an anti-establishment, raw freshness to music, art, and style. It was about change, the idea that people should question authority and take action themselves."
- Janette Beckman.
Collection published June 30th, 2020. © Janette Beckman / British Culture Archive. All rights reserved.
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All images © Janette Beckman, all rights reserved. No usage or reproduction of any kind without prior permission of the copyright holder.
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