{"id":2,"date":"2022-06-01T04:07:45","date_gmt":"2022-05-31T16:07:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/'http\/\/upthepunks.co.nz\/?page_id=2"},"modified":"2026-02-21T15:38:52","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T02:38:52","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/upthepunks.co.nz\/bands\/about","title":{"rendered":"About"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Up The Punks 2002<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Up The Punks (2002) was an exhibition dedicated to documenting the largely overlooked history of Wellington\u2019s 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\u2019s 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\u2019s 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. 



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