MELYNDA VON WAYWARD

MUSIC INDUSTRY PEOPLE - AUSTRALIA

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Melynda von Wayward

Melynda von Wayward is the creator and administrator of the Punk Journey website which details Melbourne's punk era from 1977 to 1987. As well as being a photographer, writer and stylist, Melynda is also an exhibition curator, a subculture researcher and historian, and an arts manager. She is quite notable for her 2017 art exhibition 'St Kilda’s Alright: The Fred Negro Experience'.

Additionally, Melynda has skills in Stage and Production Managment and Lighting Designer with a Bachelor of Dramatic Arts from the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) and a Graduate Diploma in Arts Management from the University of Melbourne.

HISTORY
In 2004, Melynda took her fascination of the Melbourne punk scene to a more substantive level, by investing in a camera and starting to photograph the very medium that inspired her own journey into that fashion and music genre. Although she was too young to experience the first wave of punk, Melynda did experience the later waves of punk in the 90's and 2000's, and she has retrospectively brought in fresh insights and a revitalized observation in her personal curation of Melbourne's punk music and fashion medium across all the punk waves. Post 2007, the result of all that passion resulted in a book titled 'Punk a Photographic Journey: 2004 - 2007' and then in 2013 she created a website called 'Punk Journey' which hosted the continuation of her research and coverage of Australia's punk scene including a place to host the bulk of her interviews, photographs and reviews of her research into the sub-cultural medium.

Given the interest from others in regard to her pursuits, this inspired Melynda to take her punk documenting project to another level and to curate an exhibition. In 2014 Melynda curated an exhibition celebrating St Kilda as the epicenter of the Melbourne punk scene from 1977 - 1987 titled 'Punk Journey: St Kilda + Beyond'. The exhibition was well regarded and attended.

As Melynda further developed her research for her web site and her social networking within Melbourne's punk subculture, the opportunity arose in 2017 for her to curate an all-encompassing exhibition celebrating iconic artist and musician Fred Negro titled 'St Kilda’s Alright: The Fred Negro Experience', which cemented her reputation as a cultural commentator on Melbourne's punk subculture and received strong press coverage and was very well attended.

Since then, Melynda has been involved in further activity promoting the punk medium including the creation in 2021 of a not-for-profit organization called 'The Society of Australian Punk inc. (SOAP)' which has the aim of representing and supporting Australian punk research and projects. Additionally, in 2022 Melynda created the 'Wayward Woman Giving Fund' - a charitable organization that encourages women to become micro-philanthropists by giving them the opportunity to be part of a collective giving community. And in 2023: Melynda created the first of many of her own private arts management courses relating to the Australian arts and cultural sector.

Article by Simon Rashleigh

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Parent Category Page Links: Music Industry People - Australia

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