In Memory of Soo Catwoman

Soo Catwoman (1954 - 2025)

Photo by Ray Stevenson

 

 

I. 

 

What Roland Barthes felt about the face of Greta Garbo, I feel about the face of Soo Catwoman: it's a pure and perfect object; untouched by time or finger-tips; unmarked by traces of emotion. 

 

It's a face that belongs to art, not to nature, and which has all the cold and expressionless beauty of a mask. An iconic face. A punk fetish object.

 

 

II.  

 

Although she wasn't a member of the Bromley Contingent, Sue Lucas - better known as Soo Catwoman - was a crucial (and much photographed) figure on London's early punk scene and a confidente of the Sex Pistols, at one time sharing a flat with Sid Vicious. 

 

Her distinctive feline image was so powerful that she was even chosen to feature on the front cover of the first (and only) edition of the official Sex Pistols' fanzine, Anarchy in the U. K. and she was widely acknowledged - even by Rotten - as being one of the true creators of punk style. 

 

And so, I was saddened to hear of her passing a few days ago (30 September), aged 70. But, just as Leonardo's Mona Lisa has fascinated people for centuries, I suspect people will be looking at images of Lucas for many years to come. 

 

For whilst the latter may not possess the same enigmatic smile as this Renaissance beauty, she perfectly embodies the character of punk womanhood; combining a defiant and aggressive realism with elements of romance and ambiguity.  

 

And, like la Gioconda, Soo Catwoman fixes the viewer with her gaze and it is this challenging aspect that sometimes provokes a violent response in those who like to look at art works, but don't like art works to look back at them.     

 

Note: for an earlier post on Soo Catwoman - Of Clowns and Catwomen (8 Dec 2016) - please click here.