Bloodied but unbowed, the spirit of West Coast punk lives on in Dina Goldstein’s new portrait series OG Punk

Dina Goldstein: OG Punk

When: Until Jan. 2, 2022

Where: Polygon Gallery, 101 Carrie Cates Court, North Vancouver

Info: thepolygon.ca

Q: Did they go all-out or were they timid punk rockers?

A: I was really bullied by one of them. It’s not that I had a bad impression of punk, but she was particularly anti-Semitic and nasty. Then after high school I met more. When you don’t understand the culture, you attribute a lot of things to it that are undeserving.

Q: Were you going to a lot of punk rock shows after high school?

A: No, but I loved rock ‘n’ roll. We hung out at the Town Pump and saw all sorts of bands. I really came out of this Westside mentality and moved to the Eastside. And then everything changed.

Q: The photos in the exhibit are new. Were you photographing punk rockers early on in your career?

A: You know, it’s funny, I worked on my 30-year-archive during the pandemic. I always went out to rallies and all sorts of activist activities, and I found some photos of punk rockers I’d taken in the early ’90s. But this project is not only new, but brand new. I started it in May. Everything happened so quickly. I was walking my dog in the park beside my studio, and a lot of my subjects lived around that area. And that’s how I met Mad Dog, a sculptor, and he introduced me to wendythirteen, who put me onto the Victoria crew. And I met with Polygon curator Helga Pakasaar because I wanted her to review the archive book that I was working on, and I showed her the pictures and she loved them.