Role : Curator

Photographer - Destiny Mata

For the past decade Destiny Mata has documented the engagement of communities of color in the punk scene throughout the five boroughs of New York City. This definitive body of work which appears in her monograph, The Way We Were, published by The Culture Crush, weaves together a narrative of overlapping collectives and communities that formed around a musical genre made for and by the marginalized. Mata highlights the full variety of people that make up the DIY spaces, bands, organizers who bring these shows to life, and the crowd that make up the mosh pits.

For Mata, music has always been the heartbeat of the city, even during the toughest times. During the pandemic, DIY venues struggled and closed under rising rents, and the streets became a stage; sidewalks turned into a safe gathering space, and the music provided a space for people to rebuild communities. These punk shows became the sound of resilience.

Over time, as the punk music scene evolved, a new generation of people of color carved out spaces for belonging, expression, and solidarity. Festivals like Latino Punk Fest, Black Punk Now! Fest, The Secret History of Black Punk Fest, and Logout shows have become sanctuaries, where those who see themselves reflected in one another find connection. Punk shows are more than just performances, they're platforms for collective care, mutual aid, and raising money for vital causes.

Mata has not only documented the evolution of an important scene over the last decade, but she continues to immerse herself in punk culture and music by photographing live shows, capturing the energy of the performances, taking album portraits for bands and chronicling the legacy of the communities that thrive as they support the punk scene.