Streaming with closed captions
Artscapes: Creative minds, artistic pursuits and inventive filmmaking
The death of Anglo-Somali punk icon and X-Ray Spex frontwoman Poly Styrene sends her filmmaker daughter on a journey across the world and through her mother's archives to reconcile their fraught relationship. As the first Black woman in the UK to lead a successful rock band, Poly introduced a new sound of rebellion with the classic "Oh Bondage! Up Yours!" and unleashed her unconventional voice and prescient lyrics on tracks about biracial identity, consumerism and postmodernism. But the late musician didn't just leave behind a large cultural footprint, she also left a legacy of private demons. In a call-and-response from beyond the grave, the singer-songwriter and her daughter dialogue through old photos, diaries and personal effects, exhuming the poverty, misogyny, racism and mental illness that plagued a mother's life and a daughter's childhood. Featuring interviews with Neneh Cherry, The Raincoats, The Bodysnatchers and The Slits, alongside energetic narration by Oscar nominee Ruth Negga, this missing chapter in music history puts Poly in her proper place—as key architect of the riot grrrl and Afropunk movements. Angie Driscoll
Artscapes program sponsored by
MEDIA COVERAGE
- Independent - Poly Styrene, Billie Eilish and Britney: How fame wreaks havoc on the mental health of women
- NOW Magazine - A look back at the life of a Black feminist punk icon by her own daughter