January 5th, 1978. The English band Sex Pistols played their first concert in the United States at Atlanta’s Great Southeast Music Hall. Punk music had officially arrived in America. Mainstream media coverage in the US and their native UK generally characterized the band and their fans as immature teenagers, dangerous hooligans, and unskilled musicians. Despite the derision, punk scenes would emerge across the world in the following years, including communities in Atlanta and the American South.
Anarchy in GA showcases divergent perspectives on punk. The photographs displayed are the work of Ron Sherman, a photographer based out of Atlanta who covered the 1978 Sex Pistols show for Newsweek. Contemporaneous newspapers and entertainment magazines represent a narrative that scorned punk music and punk culture. Selections from Atlanta-area punk zines from the early 80s feature grassroots self-expression of a thriving punk scene that spawned new subgenres and continued to evolve.
This exhibit is guided by the Association of College and Research Libraries’ Information Literacy Framework principle Authority is Constructed and Contextual.
Consider these questions:
- What makes someone an authority on a community or subculture?
- Why is it important to include multiple perspectives when we explore history?
- How do social structures determine which voices are valued and which voices are ignored?