Counterculture Shifts Views: The Neo Naturists

Christine Binnie body painted and photographed by Wilma Johnson, British Museum London, 3 March 1982. Courtesy of the Neo Naturists Archive and Studio Voltaire.

Neo Naturists: "Gorgeousness is the ultimate intelligence."

By Delia Cabral, Brighton, UK, August 3, 2025

London in the 1980s conjures a heady soundtrack of punk and New Wave music, visions of underground clubs, artists' squats, and radical fashions. These were creative responses to the austere "hand-to-mouth" existence that was part of the Thatcher era. The Neo Naturists were born into this fraying social fabric and infused their feminine palette and exuberance into the cultural mélange.

"Neo Naturism Since 1982," which recently concluded its run at John Marchant Gallery in Brighton (June 7-July 19, 2025), brought together a fascinating and multi-layered exploration of this group's 40-plus-year archive. The Brighton gallery, a cultural gem just an hour south of London on England's southeast coast, was thoughtfully curated with multimedia displays that created an immersive, nostalgic journey.

The exhibition featured large paintings by Jennifer Binnie alongside ceramic works by Christine Binnie, rare 8mm films from the early 1980s, archival photographs, and fresh body paint murals created by the artists during opening week. A separate video installation room housed a particular highlight: a 20-minute club performance montage from 1982 by filmmaker John Maybury (director of "Love Is The Devil," 1998). Despite its intimate scale, the gallery delivered a rich sensory time-travel experience.

The Neo Naturists, founded by sisters Christine and Jennifer Binnie along with Wilma Johnson in 1981, injected a playful, anarchic energy into London's club scene, galleries, and museums. Their body-painted performances and ritualistic interventions in public spaces, with nothing off-limits to proved infectious, inspiring participation from many temporary members, including notable figures like Grayson Perry and Cerith Wyn Evans.

Their lighthearted rebel spirit was both infectious and hopeful in 1980s Britain. The era of Thatcherism brought economic hardship, while the Cold War created an unconscious fear of nuclear obliteration shared by an entire generation. The Neo Naturists turned everything on its head, creating an environment that relished the moment through hedonism and light-heartedness, laughing in the face of difficult circumstances.

Jennifer Binnie is primarily a painter whose mystical, colorful works draw on folklore and nature themes. Her practice extends beyond traditional canvas, treating everything from household objects to human skin as surfaces to transform into her art.

Christine Binnie brings clay into the group's creative vernacular. Deeply influenced by traditional English pottery techniques, she creates earthenware pots decorated with slip and ceramic transfers, sometimes incorporating photos from the Neo Naturist archive. Her vessels are subverted with pithy phrases like "Common," "Not Nice," and "No Knickers," transforming traditional pottery forms into surprising and humorous contemporary subversive statements. She continues to work as both a ceramicist and a performance artist, bridging her individual practice with the collective's ongoing activities.

Their 1985 manifesto, written by Christine Binnie and Wilma Johnson, crystallized their intentions with provocative declarations: they would "take their clothes off for the sake of taking their clothes off" because "gorgeousness is the ultimate intelligence." Beauty and pleasure became acts of rebellion against both conservative restraint and art world pretension.

Neo Naturism Since 1982 poster for John Marchant Gallery. By Wilma Johnson, Three-colour Risograph print.

To gain deeper insight into their revolutionary practice and its contemporary relevance, I reached out to the founding members. Wilma Johnson, ever generous with her reflections, shared her thoughts on the group's materials, philosophy, and remarkable journey from 1980s underground to today's institutional recognition.

Q: Delia: Your performances incorporated everyday materials like "boiled crab, contraceptive sheaths, bacon and eggs." What drove these material choices?

A: Wilma: One of our influences were the kind of kitsch cookery programmes from the 1970s, and we loved subverting ideas of women's roles in society. The crabs were part of the Sexist Crabs performance, modestly covering our pubes as part of the Neo Naturist bikini along with two prawns as the bikini top, then our legs were Sellotaped into a mermaid's tail. At the end of the cabaret, we smashed them with hammers and served them to the audience as canapés.

Q: Delia: How did your friendship and sisterhood inform the work?

A: Wilma: I think it's a significant thing that we all have different perspectives, but at the same time, I can't imagine anyone apart from Christine and Jen who would be on the same wavelength with things like, using the example from the last question, deciding it would be a really brilliant idea to Sellotape a cooked crab to yourself.

Q: Delia: Your work is suddenly everywhere - Tate Britain, major institutions. Why do you think there's renewed interest now?

A: Wilma: That's down to two things. 1: Christine putting together the Neo Naturist Archive over a period of years and bringing it to the attention of the art world. 2: I think after a long period of slick, commercial art spearheaded by the YBAs, the time had come for something more messy, spontaneous and real - we were happy to fill that gap. Also, of course, the recognition of women artists after hundreds (or thousands?) of years of the art world being misogynistic and patriarchal.

Q: Delia: You've had quite a journey - from Neo Naturist to Ireland to surfing to writing. How do these experiences inform your current art?

A: Wilma: My art has always been autobiographical, and there have been quite defined phases in my life. From 1980 to 87, I was in the London underground club world with the Neo Naturists. In 1987, I ran away to Mexico and stayed for a year, hanging out with friends of Frida Kahlo, following the fiesta and painting in hotel rooms. 1990-2000, I was on the wild west coast of Ireland. I call them the earth mother years, ironically, because I had three kids and baked banana bread, but also had a huge studio! Then we moved to Guéthary near Biarritz (often called the 'French California'), where I decided to break into the male-dominated surf scene, although I was scared of waves and had never done any sport in my life and ended up writing a book about it, Surf Mama. By 2016, the kids had all left, so when the Retrospective at Studio Voltaire happened I decided to move back to London and rejoin my tribe. The ICA performance was the first one we'd done together since 1986!

Q: Delia: What are your future projects or exhibitions?

A: Wilma: I have a solo show coming up in September, Ghosts of the Madrugada, which combines dream imagery with memories of my childhood home in London, which was destroyed by fire in 2015, with hundreds of my paintings in it. The paintings are also reimagined from a new perspective. I have also written a book about my life as a Neo Naturist, with two parts, one set in the 1980s and the other starting on a surf beach in Biarritz, when I am at a crossroads in my life and decide it's time for a Neo Naturist comeback.

The Neo Naturists resisted categorization. They were and continue to be anarchists and freedom seekers who refuse to be contained. They are now getting the recognition they deserve, exhibiting in prominent institutions, with works included in "Women in Revolt!" at Tate Britain. Each woman is an artist and pioneer in her own right, working both independently and collectively. What began as a counterculture revolution continues to spread into popular culture.

The Neo Naturists show no signs of slowing down. Wilma Johnson has a solo exhibition, "Ghosts of the Madrugada," planned for September 2025, exploring dream imagery and memories of her fire-destroyed childhood home. She's also completing a book about her Neo Naturist journey. With their archive now gaining institutional recognition at venues like Tate Britain and their individual practices flourishing, the Neo Naturists continue to prove that 'gorgeousness' remains the ultimate intelligence.