Jo (Josephine) Brocklehurst (1935 - 2006) studied at Central Saint Martins and began her career as a fashion illustrator. She later focused on portraiture, drawing directly from models at her studio in West Hampstead and in nightclubs and theatres in Berlin, London and New York. Her work documents the alternative subcultures of the 1970s, 80s and 90s that went on to shape mainstream fashion and performance scenes.

In 2000, Brocklehurst created a series of drawings in sessions with dancer Josephine Leask. Leask’s 1999 article Welcome to the Club, published in ballettanz magazine, described the ways that nightclubs were acting as alternative theatres for cutting-edge contemporary dance. These drawings were shown as part of Leask’s lecture-performance on the same theme at the 2000 Salzburg Festival.