Resistance is not the image that one might conjure up whilst walking through the serene interior of the grandiose Modern Two, past the gift shop and the restaurant, through to the plain white walls of the exhibition. However, this rich exhibition (conceived by Steve McQueen) reflects real life protest through a loud collection of photo activism.
Greatly contrasting the white walls and cutting through the stillness of the building, the photos echoed something that could not be more relevant today. The exhibition viewer is taken through a thematic curation (by Clarrie Wallis) of over a century’s worth of British demonstrations of resistance in a wide scope of public and personal photographic collections.
Starting with images of the Suffrage movement, it moves towards anti-fascist protests, anti-nuclear protests, anti-Iraq war protests and into documentations of resistance closer to the present day. Through this diverse collection, the exhibition highlights the importance of protest in shaping the UK’s history. The exhibition also works to bring to light the importance of the role of the camera, emphasising how the camera works not only as an agent through which activism is documented but also how it actively participates in activism, producing and circulating images of collective resistance and community. This allows for the issues being contested to be brought to light and help drive the desire for social change.
Paul Trevor’s Anti-racists gather to block route of National Front demonstration (1977) summarises the exhibition perfectly: an animated image depicting a united crowd against racism, where the sounds of the protest have been frozen in time but still echo on the walls of the Modern Two. This is a powerful reminder of the importance of resistance and the pioneers of these movements that paved the way for protest.
This exhibition is definitely worth seeing before it closes on 4 January 2026.
“Modern Two (Dean Gallery), 73 Belford Road, Edinburgh (side view)” by Grousebeater2 is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.