Protest Art

by Jessica Lack

An essential guide to how the power of art has been harnessed to effect political change across the modern world, from the struggle for universal suffrage to Black Lives Matter. A well-researched, concise guide to protest art, exploring what happens when artists join forces with radical political movements to foster change. The works and movements discussed in this book emerged at times of great upheaval including war, colonialism, independence, and changes of government. They reveal how art and politics have been intertwined throughout the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Jessica Lack adopts an inclusive and international approach, presenting examples from nations and societies around the globe, including Sylvia Pankhurst’s paintings depicting the harsh realities faced by women manual workers in early 1900s Britain; the revolutionary aesthetic created by Emory Douglas for the Black Panthers in the 1960s, which documented and galvanized the campaign for the rights of Black Americans; Nandalal Bose’s portrait of Mahatma Gandhi, which became the iconic symbol of the Indian nonviolence movement in the 1930s; and the Chilean direct action work that contributed to the collapse of General Pinochet’s government. Each of the nine chapters addresses different ways in which art has been used to effect political transformation, taking in humor and satire; performance and propaganda; art’s relationships to institutions, the media, conflict, and the state; and its uses as a weapon, a galvanizing force, and a way of refusing the status quo. Artistic acts, collectives, and movements are examined in their context, revealing how they have influenced other artists and changed the wider political and artistic world. 88 color illustrations

Genres: Nonfiction, Art

176 pages, Paperback

Published June 25, 2024

About the author

Jessica Lack is a writer with a focus on modern and contemporary art. She began her career as an editor at tate: the art magazine before becoming an arts correspondent for The Guardian. For several years she wrote regularly about art for i-D Magazine. She contributes catalogue essays, has scripted short films and appeared in documentaries for Channel 4, The BBC and Sky Arts.

She is a Trustee of Wysing Arts Centre and Grizedale Arts.

Reviews

[Tarredion · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very good overview of different movements, it just didn’t go very in depth.

Ironically, the discussions around Israel-Palestine toward the end felt very surface level and reductive, specifically because pro-Palestine was the only anti-colonial (etc) movement which was questioned or overtly critiqued by the author … calling for nuance while simultaneously not giving us the tools and informations the rest of the book gave to actually understand what led up to the art part of the movement / this specific event (which tbh wasn’t explained either ?? I still barely understand what was going on there, and I’m an artist part of the pro-palestine movement with some previous knowledge. Like what.)

Not to say i don’t understand the point that historically antisemitism and Islamophobia has been entangled. That much is true. This just wasn’t explained nor phrased very well in the text, so anyone without prior context may come out of the final chapter of this book thinking that the pro-Israel and pro-Palestine movements are remotely the same (they’re not)

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25

[Jaymes · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good jumping off point, for artists and others alike. Important and always relevant, the role of art and its creators in current events.