A Lesson in Punk & Style

Iconic. It’s a word that’s thrown around a lot these days. Defined as ‘a person or thing regarded as a representative symbol, or as worthy of veneration’, it has today come to be used as a catch-all term for anyone who is elevated even slightly above the general public. If there’s one person who truly deserves the title icon in this world, it’s got to be Debbie Harry, the brilliant, bold, beautiful front woman of new wave/punk band Blondie, who form the central subject of Somerset House’s new exhibition:Chris Stein/Negative: Me, Blondie, and The Advent of Punk, a selection of photos by Blondie’s guitarist Chris Stein which, although small, has a lasting and powerful effect.

Taking the photos as mere objects, the skill of Stein is immediately apparent; having trained at the School of Visual Arts in the mid-60s, he did have some formal education in the discipline. However, Stein approaches photography in much the same way he addresses his music: with a punk, DIY attitude. ‘Photography was distant and mysterious’, says Stein, ‘[it] was simply “there”, but undefined’. Within the composition of the photos, his unique photographic eye is evident; Debbie Harry herself said that ‘the singularity of Chris’ eye view of the world comes through in every shot’.

As the subject of many of the photos present, Debbie Harry shines; not satisfied with one public persona, Harry shape-shifts throughout the exhibition, her cut glass cheekbones the only thing remaining constant. In one delightful photo from 1976 she is walking down 14th Street, in NYC’s East Village; clad in head to toe black, with her platinum hair shining like a halo around her head, she cuts a striking figure, and everyone in the photo turns to look as she walks past. In another, taken in 1978 while at the video shoot for ‘Picture This’, she is illuminated from behind by a starburst of studio lighting. Clutching a microphone in her hand, she stands on a neon walkway, looking like an alien beamed down from another world, here to save us from the horrors of mediocrity.

Debbie Harry’s subversive nature is also apparent, honed through years of making music in a heavily male-dominated environment. In one amazing shot, Harry is reclining in the plush black leather seat of a train, clutching a copy of The Sun, whose headline, commenting on the social situation in Iran, screams ‘WOMEN ARE JUST SLAVES’. Above the edge of the paper, Harry stares directly into the camera, a slight smile playing around her eyes, as if she is aware of the gross hypocrisy of the mainstream media.

These photos not only show the versatility of Harry’s public image, but serve as a history lesson of the 1970s punk-rock scene, at that time centred around down-and-dirty NYC: here she is grinning with a dapper, bequiffed Bowie; here’s Andy Warhol adjusting her hair before a photo shoot; here’s Jean-Michel Basquiat serving as an extra for Blondie’s ‘Rapture’ video, spinning records on a set of decks. From Joan Jett to David Byrne, Iggy Pop to William S. Burroughs, it seems Blondie deliberately sought out the company of fellow icons.

Ultimately, this exhibition – although slight – is well worth visiting, especially for anyone with an interest in the music scene of 1970’s New York, which the photos help consolidate into a near-tangible presence. As Stein himself says: ‘they ground the moment in some semblance of solidity’; they bring the atmosphere of the era into the room, and beam Debbie Harry directly into today’s world. A bit more present, but every bit as iconic.

Chris Stein/Negative: Me, Blondie, and The Advent of Punk runs until 25th January, 10:00-18:00. Free Admission Skate at Somerset House, the ice-rink, will run from 11th November until 11th January. Tickets are available online.