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I'm Not Okay: An Emo Retrospective

An exhibition by the Museum of Youth Culture

I'm Not Okay (An Emo Retrospective) in black and pink colours

A pilot exhibition exploring the rise of Britain’s Y2K lost subculture: Emo. Focusing on the first-generation Emo scene from 2004 to 2009.

The exhibition highlights a pivotal era when bands like My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, and Finch sparked a transatlantic exchange, fuelling a distinct UK movement led by acts such as Funeral for a Friend. The ethos of emo resonated deeply with a generation, channeling collective teenage melancholy into a transatlantic subculture that thrived in cyberspace just as well as in the basement venues of grotty pubs. With one foot IRL and the other in MySpace, Emo wasn’t just a scene —it was the only way of living, the only way we could envision our futures.

Featuring personal photos snapped on early digital and mid-00s phone cameras, content for this exhibition has been digitally unearthed by the Museum of Youth Culture from old hard drives and Photobucket accounts. 

 

Tagged with: Library Level G Free

You can visit the exhibition during library opening times, which can be found here

Barbican Music Library