Lydia Lunch is a self-described "confrontationalist" and that concept has informed all of her many artistic endeavors through the years. Beginning with her seminal early-1980s no wave group Teenage Jesus & the Jerks, Lunch has produced some of the most caustic, aggressive, and challenging art imaginable. She has collaborated with filmmaker Richard Kern, novelist Hubert Selby Jr., and rockers Sonic Youth, Nick Cave, and Henry Rollins, and Exene Cerevenka. While identified most frequently as a musical figure, Lunch's primary form of artistic expression has been spoken word performances and recordings. She is also an author and a widely exhibited photographer.