Vancouver Women in Punk

On January 15 2022, The Polygon Gallery hosted an online conversation with four remarkable women who were key figures in the Vancouver punk and indie music scene, and went on to produce other forms of music and creative endeavours.

The informal discussion was moderated by Sook-Yin Lee, a member of the 80s Vancouver band Bob’s Your Uncle, who is a filmmaker, musician, actor, multimedia artist, and award-winning radio and TV broadcaster She was joined by Jade Blade, a member of The Dishrags, an all-female punk band of the late 1970s, and later a member of Volumizer, who now teaches art history and visual studies; Heather Haley of the all-female punk band Zellots, who is a musician, novelist and poet; and Vanessa Richards, was a member of the punk politics, genre-defying, 1980s band Bolero Lava, and maintains a social justice practice as an transdisciplinary artist and facilitator.

Image: Dina Goldstein, Raven, 2021