A Brief History of Protest Art

by Aindrea Emelife

A visual journey through 100 years of protest art

A visual journey through 100 years of protest art, which is more relevant than ever in our digital, visually rich, and social-media driven age. Art has always declared its dissatisfaction against the status quo. Throughout history artists have used their art to criticize and protest a range of injustices and inequalities, oppression, and violence. Their art is an act of defiance, but more importantly it has given a voice to the voiceless and the marginalized.

Genres: Nonfiction, Art, History

160 pages, Paperback

Published September 6, 2022

Reviews

[michaela · Rating 4 out of 5]

cool awesome book
big fan of the pictures and i LOOVEE the essay at the beginning. here are some quotes i like from "My Labour Is My Protest":
"To many artists, art is a sign of resistance to a hierarchical, global standardised political model. Art is most raw and potent when it acts as a secret agent...In this artistic intervention, the artist destabilises and challenges the status quo".
A piece i really liked was Jenny Holzer's Inflammatory Essay lithograph, and Yoko Ono's performance of Cut Piece. Some others, like Yue Minjun's Execution, were very interesting to look at. all in all very good book, insightful and intelligent 👍
My only complaint is I wish the book explored more non-western pre-20th century protest pieces but I def got what i paid for big recommend

[Claire G · Rating 4 out of 5]

*3.5 stars

This book is a really interesting compilation of left-wing protest art from the past 80-ish years. I appreciated how it included a lot of different mediums, from painting to sewing to performance art to filmmaking to collage to sculpture etc etc etc, and I'd recommend it to anyone who's interested in creating their own protest art, just to give them a solid baseline about what came before and what can be done. Also I LOVED all the pictures. All art history books should have lots of pictures!!!!!

However, the book has a few layout/formatting issues. Sometimes a piece of art would be spread over two pages due to its size, but since the book is obviously bound in the middle, the binding/gutter would obscure crucial parts of the piece. Also, whenever Emelife spoke about a series of pieces made by an artist, the book would usually just show one example, which annoyed me because it felt like I was seeing a fragment out of context. Including images of two or three examples would have really helped, though I understand space was limited.

Despite these critiques, A Brief History of Protest Art has really sparked my interest in art books. Maybe I just like the pictures.

[Umberto Profazio · Rating 4 out of 5]

L’arte come forma di espressione e come forma di protesta passa necessariamente da una sfida all’autorità che tende necessariamente ad un sovvertimento dell’ordine costituito. Da Guernica a Black Lives Matter, passando attraverso Ai Weiwei e le Pussy Riot, Aiendra Emelife ci offre un breve compendio dell’arte come cambiamento nel senso più profondo e politico del termine.

[jakira · Rating 4 out of 5]

really enjoyed this one! a fantastic introduction followed by a ~2~ page spread on an individual work. i also really loved that this book was small -- made the reading experience a lot less painful lol

[O · Rating 3 out of 5]

More of a commentary than a History, but educational for someone like me who has next to no knowledge of protest art.

[Private · Rating 1 out of 5]

wouldn't recommend it.

[zelfvoldaantje · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t expect this book to just be a page filled with art pieces, and an explanation right next to it. However, it was still very enjoyable and I learned something new!

[Georgina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Does what it says on the cover: a compilation of works promoting social justice.

[Jacks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Misleading title (not really a history at all, but a gallery) and fairly US-centric, but powerful & interesting nonetheless