The Neo Naturists blazed a naked trail of disruption, confrontation, chaos and confusion through the 1980s London underground art scene, creating their nude happenings in front of bemused audiences at clubs, galleries and various public places, where the women often arrived unannounced, launching into their performance guerrilla style. Wild, non-conformist and provocative, the group was nevertheless largely forgotten, but is now being rediscovered, and has reformed for a retrospective of their work at the Studio Voltaire gallery in London. The exhibition incorporates film and photographs, as well as live performance – though not completely naked this time around.

By all accounts, the group’s performances were surreally humorous. Christine Binnie who, along with her sister Jennifer and Wilma Johnson, founded the group, recalls performing a live tableau of “fishermen and mermaids” outside the landmark Centrepoint building in central London. The performance attracted a lot of attention, she remembers, including that of the police: “We had a conversation with a policeman for about 10 minutes, but in the end he didn’t arrest us, just told us to put our coats on.” Until recently, a law from the Victorian era still stood in England – it was only men, not women, who were prevented by law from exposing themselves in public.