The exhibitionreminds us that resistance is one of the main ways social reforms come about. Photography has often supported the voice of campaigners, as well as being a tool used both by counter-reformers and for official surveillance. ‘Resistance’ covers important acts of protest including: the Suffragette movement, the Jarrow Hunger Marches, the Anti-Fascistmovements, the Miners’ Strike, the Tree Villages, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), against Clause 28 and the Iraq War. Anyone who is interested in the impact of resistance movements, photography and their ties with social change, are recommended to visit this exhibition.
Photographs as propaganda and authenticity
The artist and exhibition originator, Steve McQueen, deliberately focused on photos before digital photography became common. Pre-digital photography gives the exhibition substance, as images taken with Single Lens Reflex (SLR), or older cameras, are less amenable to ‘cropping’, repositioning and reproduction. Before digitalisation, photo development was a harder process. Images nowadays can travel far from the original photo very quickly. The cultural critic, Walter Benjamin, thought the more something is reproduced, the more it loses its ‘aura’: its authenticity and presence.
Nonetheless, we know that photographs of any era can be manipulated or cropped. The photo of ‘Sylvia Pankhurst Recovering from a Hunger and Thirst Strike’, (1913 – Norah Smyth), could be seen as propaganda, amplifying the cause. But still, it feels authentic, as do most of the photos in the exhibition. To my mind this is because we are clear why and when the hunger and thirst strikes occurred; the photo can be traced to a historic event, especially as the hunger strikes were widely publicised. Furthermore, the photo is not shot in a way to evoke pity, it is an image of recovery, suggesting strength of conviction.
Ongoing struggles, fascism and poverty
The exhibition shows that resistance for all causes is a continual process. In the section, ‘Confronting Fascism’, a chilling image by an unknown photographer shows Oswald Mosely doing a fascist salute – ‘Oswald Mosely, leader of the British Union of Fascists…’, (1937), while images by Eddie Worth and others show conflict with fascists at the ‘Battle of Cable Street’, (1936).
Simmering fascism boils over repeatedly and intersects with racism. Peter Marlow’s photograph, ‘The United Front against Racism vs. The National Front…’, (1977),depicts the conflict leading to the Battle of Lewisham, where anti-fascists successfully prevented a fascist march
A moving photo by John Franks shows ‘The Coloured People’s Progressive association’, (1959) protesting with billboards titled, “Black and White Can Live in Harmony”, following the racially motivated murder of Kelso Cochrane. Claudia Jones, the activist, organised events using joy as resistance, such as a Caribbean carnival in St Pancras Town Hall (1959). This laid the ground for later events such as ‘The Notting Hill Carnival, London’, (1974),photographed by Chris Miles.
Likewise, struggles against unemployment and hunger recur. Humphrey Spender produces empathic pictures of unemployment in Tyneside in the 1930s. Forty years on, Tish Murtha shows striking, but more detached, photos of people in dole offices and queues in the 1970s. The Jarrow Crusade and the People’s March for Jobs are photographed at the same spot in 1936 and 1981 respectively.
Drama and the everyday
It is an inherent limitation of photography, that while it is good as a powerful image for full-blown acts of protest – ‘Members of the National League of the Blind participating in the Blind March’, (1920) – it is not so good at covering the psychological impact of the everyday intangible oppressions which precede the protest.
Christine Spengler was one photographer who did convey the ordinary and routine eloquently during the Northern Ireland Conflict (The Troubles). The exhibition informs us about how unusual her nuanced approach was. She uses juxtapositions, such as children playing near to armoured vehicles, or ‘Girl at an IRA funeral procession, Belfast’, (1972),which depicts a solitary child with a black flag, reminding us that the conflict affected the whole community.
Photography, with its leaning towards documentary, is also effective at exposing poor social conditions. An evocative image, ‘Family Squatting, Pelham Building…’, (1978),by Paul Trevor, portrays a man, likely to be a Muslim Elder, and a small girl. Squatting was common amongst British South Asian families in London at this time.
Time moves on
Some protests are still in our memories, such as the 1980s Miners’ Strikes, and many will have been at the Iraq War protests in Edinburgh and Glasgow (2003). But a danger of an exhibition, which does not go to the immediate present, is that it can put a lid on the past. However, ‘Resistance’ side-steps this by ending with photos of war protests from two different decades: e.g. ‘Anti-Vietnam War Protesters in Grosvenor Square, London’, (1968 – David Hunt) and ‘Anti-War Demonstration in Edinburgh’, (2003 – Craig MacLean). It suggests the dynamics of time and the prevalence of wars in the present day.
Resistance today
One of the things I took away, was a reminder that many protests were successful in bringing reform. This is illustrated in ‘Members of the Campaign for Disabled Transport trying to board a bus…’, (1989 – Brenda Prince). Disabled people, with difficulty walking, were scarcely visible as late as the 1990s because public transport was not accessible. So, their protests have shaped our thinking. Nowadays, no reasonable individual would expect a person using a wheelchair to be effectively excluded from using the bus.
Hence, resistance and protest have been more important to society than a few wayward rebels. Protest has shaken the hand of progress many times. However, we are in an era where governments are less tolerant of dissent and less inclined to listen; signalled by laws such as The UK’s Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, (applying primarily to England and Wales).
Repression of dissent prompts two questions: How effectively can people express dissatisfaction with social conditions? And how can constructive social change occur when representative voices are stifled?
Photography will continue to play a role in helping the voice of social reform to be heard. This is therefore a very relevant exhibition to our times.
https://www.nationalgalleries.org/exhibition/resistance
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