Linder Sterling

Artworks from the 1970s punk and post-punk scene in Manchester

Above collages from LINDER STERLING (b.1954). Linder Sterling played an important part during the 1970s punk and post-punk scene in Manchester, where she worked in and around the music industry.

In many ways, her collage work from the period have much in common with the subversive practices of punk: Ripping things apart and reassembling them again was a way of showing the counterfeit quality and construction of any social image. But Linder’s art went even beyond the rebellion of her underground musical counterparts.(Interview Magazine)

In 1976, she created the magazine Secret Public with Jon Savage who is best known for his award winning history of the Sex Pistols. Many of her works were published in this magazine. Due to her juxtaposed images from porn and women’s domestic magazines the magazine was perceived to be to pornographic and many bookshops wouldn’t stock the magazine. Her work which often features naked women, with their faces obscured by domestic appliances, made a point of about the cultural expectations of women at the time. Although Linder Sterling has never described herself as a feminist, she has been called a radical feminist by many who perceive her artwork to be dealing with the repression of woman. Her work is filled with issues such as capitalism, sexuality, desire, violence, morbidity and hope. Themes which are still very relevant today.

In the work Linder made in the 1980s, she primarily made montages with images of herself, entitled ‘Myself as a Found Object’. Her most famous work is probably the cover she did for the group Buzzocks ‘Orgasm Addict‘ (1977) showing a woman with an iron for a head. This image I believe it was, was recently purchased by the Tate. Linder was also a lead singer as well. In 1978, she co-founded the post-punk group LUDUS, which split up in 1983. Morrissey who is one of Linder Sterling’s close friends did an interview with Linder Sterling, click here to it. Linder Sterling is an artist who constantly renews herself. Lately, she was behind a 13-hour live performance entitled ‘The Darktown Cakewalk’ together with Richard Nicoll and Stuart McCallum. A performance combining art, fashion and music. Read more about the performance in Dazed Digital.