Museum of London Presents
Poly Styrene - A Rock Against Racism Anniversary Event

DATE Friday 30 April TIME 6:30PM BST HOST Rianna Norbert-David GUESTS Celeste Bell, Paul Sng, Mykaell Riley + Stephanie Phillips Q+A LINK

Watch our past event alongside the film-

On the night of the 30th April 1978, 100,000 people marched six miles through London for an open-air concert denouncing the rising tide of racist hate in the UK. This 30th April we remembered that remarkable day, and celebrated one of the concert's leading performers - Poly Styrene - and the new documentary about her life, Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliche.

The event featured Celeste Bell: writer, director of the documentary and daughter of punk icon and X-Ray Spex frontwoman Poly Styrene. Celeste was joined by Poly Styrene co-director and esteemed filmmaker Paul Sng, whose work strives for inclusivity, diversity and to challenge the status quo, Mykaell Riley, singer-songwriter, producer and founding member of Steel Pulse and Stephanie Phillips, London-based arts & culture journalist who also works as part the Decolonise Fest collective.

The event was hosted by Museum of London's very own curator, Rianna Norbert-David. Rianna is an Assistant Curator and storyteller whose work reflects the diversity of her British-Caribbean heritage; exploring themes of community, displacement, migration and the home.

POLY STYRENE: I AM A CLICHÉ

DOCUMENTARY | ENGLISH | 89 MIN

Poly Styrene was the first woman of colour in the UK to front a successful rock band. She introduced the world to a new sound of rebellion, using her unconventional voice to sing about identity, consumerism, postmodernism, and everything she saw unfolding in late 1970s Britain, with a rare prescience. As the frontwoman of X-Ray Spex, the Anglo-Somali punk musician
was also a key inspiration for the riot grrrl and Afropunk movements.

But the late punk maverick didn’t just leave behind an immense cultural footprint. She was survived by a daughter, Celeste Bell, who became the unwitting guardian of her mother’s legacy and her mother’s demons. Misogyny, racism, and mental illness plagued Poly’s life, while their lasting trauma scarred Celeste’s childhood and the pair’s relationship.

Featuring unseen archive material and rare diary entries narrated by Oscar-nominee Ruth Negga, this documentary follows Celeste as she examines her mother’s unopened artistic archive and traverses three continents to better understand Poly the icon and Poly the mother.

DIRECTORS Paul Sng + Celeste Bell
CERTIFICATION 12A
SUBTITLES Yes (English) | AD/SDH Yes