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Up The Punks 2002

Up The Punks (2002) was an exhibition dedicated to documenting the largely overlooked history of Wellington’s punk scene. Curated by John Lake and Kerry Ann Lee, it was held at Thistle Hall from 16-30 October 2002 and presented a predominantly visual history spanning from punk’s arrival in Wellington in the late 1970s through to its increasingly politicised forms in the 1990s. The exhibition featured photographs, posters, set lists, a zine library, and a 30-minute documentary, alongside community activities such as screen-printed T-shirts and a zine and record distro day. Organised as a direct response to Te Papa’s PunKulture exhibition, which the curators criticised for privileging an overseas, commercialised narrative of punk, Up The Punks foregrounded local voices, venues, bands, and underground culture. Divided into eight chronological sections, it traced key moments, scenes, and intersections within Wellington punk, offering an alternative, community-driven account of punk as lived experience rather than imported mythology. 

Up The Punks 2012

Up The Punks returned in 2012 with a new exhibition at Thistle Hall celebrating over three decades of punk culture in Wellington. Curated by John Lake and Kerry Ann Lee, the exhibition ran from 6–11 November and expanded the original project with a wall-based timeline spanning 1977–2012, inviting visitors to contribute their own memories and annotations directly onto the gallery walls. With a stronger audio-visual focus, the exhibition was accompanied by two live events: Gettin’ Worse: Punx Still Angry at San Fran Bath House, and No Wave Spacktackular at Thistle Hall, bringing together contemporary acts alongside 1980s punk veterans Flesh D-Vice. Together, the exhibition and shows reinforced Up The Punks as a living, participatory record of Wellington’s punk history 

Up The Punks 2013 China

Up The Punkfest! 2019

Up The Punks 2024

Up The Punks returned in 2024 with a new exhibition at Thistle Hall Gallery, charting 37 years of Wellington’s punk scene. Running from 22-27 October, the exhibition was structured around a detailed, wall-length timeline of gigs and album releases, illustrated with photographs, posters, and other ephemera. A significant component of the show drew on digitised material from the personal collection of longtime punk fan Jim Gardner (aka Skippy), whose archive helped enrich the exhibition following his recent passing. The exhibition was accompanied by a live show at Barrel Brothers in Newtown featuring Unsanitary Napkin, Fog, No Sector, and Condenser – linking contemporary bands with musicians active in Wellington’s early 1980s punk scene and reinforcing Up The Punks as an ongoing, intergenerational documentation of local punk history.

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