Jo Brocklehurst: Finding Truth and Beauty in London’s Subculture
Drawing club goers, anarcho-punks and fetishists
Imagine being daring enough to approach punks in a dimly lit club in 1980s London, and ask if you could draw their portraits. Jo Brocklehurst (1935-2006) dared, allowing us into a world where the boundaries of art, fashion, rebellion, and the transformative power of self-expression intersect. Her remarkable in situ drawings serve as a captivating piece of anthropological history.
Brocklehurst had a talent for capturing the unique style and individualism of the punks, fetishists, actors, dancers, and club-goers she’d find in the nightclubs of London and Berlin. She was fascinated by their fearless fashion sense and distinct appearance, which she depicted in her reportage.
Brocklehurst had an unconventional 40-year artistic journey. She abandoned a promising career as a fashion illustrator to dedicate herself to capturing the spirit of those who cherished their freedom above commercial success. Brocklehurst was a beautiful yet immensely shy person. She was as mysterious as the characters she brought to life on paper, often masking her appearance in a disguise of blonde wigs and sunglasses. She also shielded herself from the prejudice she faced as a woman of mixed heritage. Her drawings spoke volumes about the freedom her subjects exhibited. They were people unapologetically themselves.
Beginning in the late 1970s you would often see her taking in the cabaret scene at the famous Blitz Club in Covent Garden, which functioned as a haven for the groundbreaking New Romantic movement and the gender-fluid fashion of Blitz Kids.
She immersed herself into fetish and punk culture. She’d enter a club armed with a sketchbook or rolls of paper, drawing tools and pastels, then begin sketching the enigmatic personas of those she encountered.
These romantic rebels were fashionable creatures, dressed in animal prints and latex, with neon spiky hair and dramatic makeup. Brocklehurst had them take provocative poses, unashamed and excited to be seen and admired. She shows us their courage to transcend societal norms as they explored their own sexuality through nonconforming gender roles. They made daring and creative choices that celebrated their sense of alienation from an often narrow-minded world.
Fo most of her life Brocklehurst lived in her art studio in West Hampstead in north-west London. She befriended members of the anarcho-punk group Puppy Collective, and the Kill Your Pet Puppy punk zine, who were squatting in a building nearby. They also became her models.
Brocklehurst often travelled to Berlin, where she was the artist-in-residence for the esteemed Berliner Zeitung newspaper. Her daily sketches provided a unique perspective on the city’s vibrant cultural scene. She attended opening nights of groundbreaking plays at the Berliner Theatertreffen, immortalizing the performances in her drawings, for publication the following morning.
Jo Brocklehurst passed away in 2006. Her legacy is left shrouded in the dark recesses of the clubs she frequented. Her art serves as a poignant testament to her extraordinary talent and compassion for others.
All images © Estate of Jo Brocklehurst
More to Know:
See more work by Jo Brocklehurst at the Quentin Blake Center for Illustration
Read about anarcho-punks at the Hampton Institute
So much confidence in her drawing. Love the colors. It would be nice if more newspapers today established artist-in-residence programs. That must have been a stimulating job for her at the Berliner Zeitung.
Lovely stuff. I see parallels with the nightclub work of Felix Scheinberger...