1950年代から現在に至るまで、写真集、ジン、ポスター、パンフレット、インディペンデント・ジャーナル、オルタナティヴな新聞など、抗議と抵抗をテーマにした、写真を用いた世界的な印刷物のセレクションを紹介する作品集。

本書は、245点以上のプリントを掘り下げ、反抗、ジェンダー、移民、人種と階級、環境、政治、戦争と暴力の7つのテーマに分け、7章で構成されている。各章には、反政府、反グローバリズム、女性の権利、AIDS、反アパルトヘイト、公民権、反帝国主義、労働者の権利、領土問題、学生の抗議、国家ポピュリズム、反植民地主義、革命、銃による暴力などに関する抵抗を扱う複数のサブテーマが含まれている。

アルゼンチン、ブラジル、チリ、中国、フランス、イタリア、日本、ケニア、韓国、メキシコ、モザンビーク、ミャンマー、ニュージーランド、スペイン、南アフリカ、タイ、ウクライナ、イギリス、アメリカなどの写真集、チラシ、ジャーナル、オルタナティヴな新聞、ポスター、ジンなどの図版とあわせ、詳細な解説を収録する。

Flashpoint!, an anthology focusing on protest photography in print, presents a global selection of photobooks, zines, posters, pamphlets, independent journals and alternative newspapers that address protest and resistance from the 1950s to the 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. An associated reading room will tour internationally.

Contributing Essayists: Makeda Best, Hannah Darabi, Arthur Fournier, Marc Feustel, Kerry Manders, Elisa Medde, Mark Sealy and Pauline Vermare.

Contributing Book Description Researchers-Writers: Kyle Canter, Claire Carcara, Kimber Chewning, Diana Flatto, Keavy Handley-Byrne, Nawang Tsomo Kinkar, Eliza McDonough, Casey Monroe, Frankie Moutafis, Marjorie Ornston and Alexandra Varga.