Tight black jeans, fringes that covered half our faces, nails painted black, and expressing our emotions through song lyrics: the emo culture that took over a whole generation between 2004 and 2009 is now the subject of a new exhibition at the Barbican in London.
Aptly titled I’m Not Okay (An Emo Retrospective), the exhibition will make those of us who experienced this phase feel old as images of first-generation emos recovered from old harddrives and sites like Photobucket are now lining the walls of the of the performing arts centre. It also delves deep into how iconic bands like My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy influenced the trend and those who adopted it.
But this isn’t just about aesthetics. A collaboration between the Museum of Youth Culture and the City of London Corporation library, the exhibition looks at how emo subculture became a way for young people to address their sexuality, speak about mental health, find belonging, and feel more accepted.
Speaking about I’m Not Okay, the Creative Director of the Museum of Youth Culture, Jamie Brett, said: “The Emo scene resonated deeply with teens who wanted to express their angst, doubts, insecurity, and sense of feeling and being different, and channelled their collective melancholy into a transatlantic subculture.
“As well as the content that we unearthed digitally, we are very grateful to everyone who remembered how Emo culture helped shape their lives and answered our shout-outs for visual material for the exhibition, essentially, giving them a degree of ownership of it.”
The exhibition, which has made waves across the world due to its subject matter runs until January 15, 2025 and entry is completely free.