Janette Beckman | UK Subculture, 1970s-80s.

Janette Beckman’s work has spanned more than five decades, a portrait and documentary photographer she captured the rise of punk in seventies London, as well as soundsystem culture, and the skinhead, ska and mod revival movements during the onset of Thatcher’s Britain.

Growing up in North London, Janette was surrounded by art & culture from a young age. Enrolling on a course at Saint Martins, she initially had visions of 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.