Flashpoint! Protest Photography in Print, 1950-Present

The past seventy-five years have been a time of extreme social and cultural transformations worldwide. Political and social upheaval, often contentious, disorienting and polarizing, is now a daily reality. Whether migration crises, territorial disputes, gender inequity, class divisions, racism, war, gun violence or environmental concerns, we live in a world rife with ideological and tribal conflicts. Since its inception, photography has captured defining historical moments, serving as either a tool or a document of protest—or both. In placing photobooks next to posters, DIY zines and independent journals, Flashpoint! explores the diverse roles and varying aesthetics that photography in print undertakes in its support of protest and resistance. Is it a “tool” conceived through an “aesthetic of urgency” to be used during events as they unfold, as in an anonymously designed poster or ink-stained flier plastered on street walls? Or an elegantly designed photobook, published a year or more later, often with the help of well-known photographers, writers and designers, to document a past uprising? Whether outright rage or a more subtle artist-driven commentary, protest photography in print covers all of these formats and sometimes transcends rigid media definitions, as it blurs the lines between what constitutes a book, zine, journal, poster or newspaper.

Surveying more than 245 photography in print assets, Flashpoint! is structured thematically into seven broad chapters: Anti, Gender, Displacement, Race & Class, Environment, Political and War & Violence. Each chapter includes multiple sub-themes that address resistance related to anti-government, anti-globalization, women’s rights, AIDS, anti-apartheid, civil rights, anti-imperialism, workers’ rights, territorial disputes, student protests, national populism, anti-colonialism, revolution and gun violence, among others. Included are illustrations and detailed descriptions of photography books, fliers, journals, alternative newspapers, posters and zines from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, France, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Korea, Mexico, Mozambique, Myanmar, New Zealand, Spain, South Africa, Thailand, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, and more!

Structured as a traveling reading room, publication and series of public events, the project will launch in November 2024 with the release of this publication at Paris Photo. An associated reading room will tour internationally.