Jo Brocklehurst, Untitled (portrait of Val Drayton and Lou Challice), 1981
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 the 1980s, Brocklehurst drew a series portraits of members of the Kill Your Pet Puppy collective who were living in a squat close to her studio. Attracted to their anarcho-punk dress and ethos, she said “I felt that they understood very well what was going on in the world, what was in it for them”.
