Punk-inspired exhibition takes aim at misogyny and anti-women rhetoric

Nation.Cymru Staff

An exhibition bringing together female artists in response to misogyny and violence against women will open in Cardiff this summer.

Gallery TEN presents the thematic exhibition, OH BONDAGE! UP YOURS!, launching on Friday 5 and running until Friday 27 June 2026.

The showcase will feature several female artists whose work serves as both a celebration of girls and women, and as a bulwark against systemic misogyny

The concept was born from outrage at the bombardment of news documenting despicable violence toward girls and women, and the continued landscape of gender-based prejudice.

From the harrowing case of Gisèle Pelicot and the Epstein legacy to the toxic influence of the ‘Manosphere’ – in a time of devastating headlines and rise of anti-women rhetoric, the work of the artists involved serves as “urgent, creative resistance.”

Whether knee-jerk or meditative, explicit or inherent to their methodology, each artist asserts a position that is fundamentally defiant.

Feminist Sioned Mason Smith explores the symbol of a Welsh Love spoon as a motif within her practice. The folk craft has now become a Welsh trope, signifying a distinctive Welsh tradition, but inhabiting souvenir and tourist shops.

She brings them back into relevance by injecting them with modern perspectives, values and aesthetics, incorporating bodily forms within this tradition. Mason Smith sees this as a questioning of presumptions and expectations surrounding what is an accepting token of love.

Women are also a central theme in Seren Morgan Jones’ work, and her sole subjects. She creates images using elements of classical painterly language, with a contemporary, feminist twist while expanding the scope of traditional portraiture.

Ceramicist SaeRi Seo explores ‘Good Child Syndrome’ rooted in her traditional Korean Confucian upbringing and gender-based expectations.

By deconstructing the Moon Jar – a symbol of perfection and virtue and, traditionally, a form for male makers only – she liberates herself from past constraints, visualising the internal conflict between societal pressure and individual identity.

Sue Williams explores and challenge the fantasies of feminism, sexuality, gender and culture in her work. In doing so she offers her passionate and direct response to the experiences of being a woman – the ups and downs of erotic experiences, memories, family issues and commentary on life in the 21st century.

The title of the exhibition is taken from the English punk rock hit by X-Ray Specs, released in 1977.

“Raw, roaring and raging in its relentlessness, the song’s anti- consumerism message became a feminist punk anthem, propelled by front-woman Poly Styrene’s idiosyncratic delivery,” TEN explained.

A blend of melodic singing and proclamation, the song was and is seen as a rallying cry for liberation, rebellion and freedom.

The track’s urgent appeal became an adopted anthem for artists and others who seek to “dismantle the structural bondage of societal norms, racial injustice and patriarchal oppression”.

Gallery TEN concluded: “Fervently punk, positively anti-patriarchy and pro-girls, this exhibition is rage-filled, quiet-resolute and confident protest against the grim carnage around us.”

Gallery TEN is located at The Coachhouse, 143 Donald Street in Cardiff. All artworks will be available to view and purchase online via the gallery’s site.