In the 20th century, there were many social ills. From labor disputes to racist discrimination, to imperialism and then to nuclear destruction. The new exhibition, conceived by Steve McQueen, co-curated with Clarrie Wallis, “Resistance: Photography of Protest Shapes and Photographic Shapes Protests,” shows us the faces behind these social movements. A smiling senator was dragged away by police. A group of anti-racists who marched, each of them angry and rebel. Literally, activists wearing flannel hug trees. The diversity of objections is evident in this mobile and provocative exhibition.
The climax of a four-year research project, “Resistance,” recorded a century of protests in Britain, beginning in 1903, beginning with a social and political alliance of women (also known as the Senator), ending with an anti-war protest by the United States/UK invasion in Iraq in 2003, beginning in 2003. space.
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No photo dominated the “resistance.” They are roughly the same size, all sizes are constructed evenly, and all sizes are black and white. Even the recent shots, which were originally taken in color in 2003, are monochrome. In this way, “resistance” is a democratic exhibition. The show follows roughly chronological order, albeit divided into different protests. The scope of the battles shot is powerful: the struggle for queer liberation, disability justice, environmental protection, racial equality – we face a century of struggles.
British audiences will be familiar with several of these images, illustrating famous moments embedded in national memory: the Jaro Crusade, the poll tax uprising. Indeed, many tourists will remember opposing Iraq's own invasion. In addition, some photographers are famous figures such as Tish Murtha and Homer Sykes. But the most moving pictures of the exhibition are mostly forgotten movements, such as the 1920 parade of the Blind. The march led to the Blind Act of 1920 and inspired subsequent protests. The exhibition displays the only surviving photos of the parade and is very moving.
Art historian John Tagg believes that like the state, cameras are never neutral. Of course, this proves correct in “resistance”. The exhibition expresses objection through different lenses (from professional photography to “embedded photography”), but complicates the relationship between protest and photography by including police surveillance photos from the Office of Criminal Records. Although many activities are ongoing, police also used cameras to cover up subversive characters.
But the action found ways to resist photography and resist through photography. Suffrage was one of the first to use journalistic photography to play to their strengths, but when necessary, they also put themselves in a “difficult theme” to cover up their faces as much as possible. The relationship between photography and resistance is not always direct. It depends on who holds the camera and who chooses to respond.
Strangely, “Resistance” includes two photos of far-right idol Oswald Mosley, the founder of the British Fascist League. His inclusion in the exhibition is not to symbolize its own resistance (i.e. fascism as a replacement for democracy), but to provide context for the situation where the campaigners were fighting against it at the time. Still, his presence is shocking and a starkly abhorrent anomaly in the hundreds of photographs commemorating heroic activists and activists.
Although every protester objected – fascism, racism, environmental destruction, nuclear massacre, there was still joy in many images. Two men, one with a sign that reads “Young, in love and anger”, share a gentle kiss in a public demonstration. In 1959, a couple danced at the First Caribbean Carnival, organized against racist violence. For many, the act of celebration is itself an act of resistance.
Recent photos (depicting protests against the Iraq War) are particularly touching, not just because of their timely approach. This section compares quality mobilization with individual resistance behaviors. The protests against the impending invasion of Iraq remained the largest public demonstration in British history. But among the protesters, the exhibition included Brian Haw's personal movement. From 2001 to 2011, Haw camped outside the British Parliament to protest British foreign policy. Joining the crowd, Huo alone but rebelling images prove a strange behavior of resistance as moving as a massive rise.
It is impossible to think of the 20 years since 2003, which are the years that the exhibition has not been recorded. Over the past year and a half, many demonstrations have taken place in London and across the country, against the war in Gaza, especially in protest of Britain’s accomplices in such violence. The government will never make protests easy, but the current activist situation in Britain is particularly dangerous and terrible. As I have written elsewhere, the repression of peaceful protests in Britain is a danger to the civil liberties of everyone. The legislation increases the police's power to explain the threats considered to be a public order, resulting in arrests and imprisonment of peace activists. As the Margate exhibition suggests, change only happens through resistance. Voting on women, homosexual liberation, disability rights: These may be limited to historical security, but each is the result of ongoing efforts to threaten violence, arrests and persecution.
Not every one is in the exhibition “win” campaign in the strictest terms, but at least every time pushes the public’s discourse toward the previous struggle for equality and lighting in the shadows. Most photos in “Resistance” are simulation times. Today, everyone has a camera in their pocket, which means everyone can record objections. “Resistance” is an ode to the heroes of the past. This should also provoke today's struggle.
“Resist“As of June 1, 2025, Turner Hyundai.
