British artist Linder’s first major London retrospective features early collages created as a graphic design student

British artist Linder presents first major London retrospective at the Hayward Gallery showcasing 50 years of work including early collages created while studying at Manchester Met.    

Linder: Danger Came Smiling includes a selection of the artist’s trailblazing photomontages, an influential medium she discovered while studying graphic design at Manchester Met’s Manchester School of Art – then known as Manchester Polytechnic – from 1974 to 1977. 

Linder was born Linda Mulvey in Liverpool in 1954 and is an internationally recognised artist renowned for her multifaceted practice which has ventured into fashion, music, performance, perfume, textiles, and film. 

The exhibition explores the full range of her artistic practice, from the early work that grew from her involvement in the punk scene of 1970s Manchester, to new works that have never been shown before. 

Linder’s thought-provoking work explores experimental and feminist themes investigating the sexual commodification of the female body within magazine culture to examine our shifting attitudes to aspirational lifestyles, sex, food and fashion. 

Linder first came to prominence in the 1970s within Manchester’s punk and post-punk music scene and at the heart of the show is her renowned photomontage for the record sleeve of Buzzcocks’ 1977 single Orgasm Addict, designed by graphic designer and fellow Manchester Met alumnus Malcolm Garrett.

Linder discovered collage in 1976, during her studies at the University, and has used photomontage throughout her career. 

Inspired by artists Hannah Höch, Max Ernst and El Lizzitzky, her initial collages were taken from magazines depicting stereotypical ‘women’s’ and ‘men’s’ interests. 

Using a medical grade scalpel, Linder cuts, dissects and reshapes photographic images from magazines and other printed media to create collages that comment on the way women are objectified, gender stereotypes and their evolution over time. 

Speaking about the exhibition opening, Linder said: “I’m thrilled to share a lifetime’s work at the Hayward Gallery. Its Brutalist architecture is the perfect foil for the delicacy of the print ephemera I’ve worked with for over half a century. 

“The cuts made by my blades and scissors are perpetually liberating. Each restores agency across print and page. The found images in my work are often quite fragile both materially and conceptually, it doesn’t take much then to hijack them and to take them somewhere far more surreal.”

Manchester Met’s Manchester School of Art has a rich history of training creative talent with its notable graduates including L.S. Lowry, Adolphe Valette, Sylvia Pankhurst, Peter Saville and Malcolm Garrett. 

Professor Martyn Evans, Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Director of Manchester School of Art said: “Manchester Met has a rich history of creative excellence in the arts and we’re extremely proud of our graduates and what they go on to achieve. Linder is a groundbreaking artist whose thought-provoking work has pushed boundaries over the past five decades. It’s fantastic to see her seminal collage work was created when she was a Manchester School of Art student has been a source of inspiration throughout her career.”

Linder: Danger Came Smiling is on display at The Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, until May 5, 2025.