Sketch A Day #17 - Punk is as Punk does

Inspired by a couple different photos in the sunday Times, including a review of the Reznor Girl with the Dragon Tattoo soundtrack i created this punker, a punker that likely wouldn't so much identify as a 'punk" but as someone who chooses subculture simply because that is how she sees herself, not simply as an act of rebellion.

Mirado Black Warrior #2 on tracing paper


I'mm old enough to remember the original punks, 1977, before it all fizzled out and the rebellion was co-opted into corporate tie-ins and snide jokes on lame sitcoms. Twenty years later when i trailed the punks walking down St Marks Place in New York I had to laugh. they were infants when the Pistols flamed out and Sid OD'd over in Chelsea. Did they think that they were becoming part of a tribe or expressing their individuality by copying someone elses' Mohawk and safety pin ridden jeans vest? Part of a tribe, yes, part of a rebellion whose best days were by the legacy of scattered needles and spit upon bodies? It was a tribe whose elder members spent time on methadone and let the piercings heal up before they moved on. you can stay angry, but, shockingly, what you're angry about doesn't always stay the same.