How rights were won: Inside the photography exhibition that traces a century of protest

When setting foot into the seafront galleries of the Turner Contemporary’s exhibition Resistance, you might anticipate rooms full of images of people pushing placards high up to the sky. In any photo documentary exhibition on a history of protest, this is a likely occurrence; but in the context of twentieth-century Britain, it’s far from all that’s in store.

Amongst the exhibitions more prototypical photographs of protest stand images remembering events that expand on archetypal ideas of ‘resistance’. Namely, the Caribbean festivals of the 1950’s that saw joy as an integral form of resistance to racist violence, a spirit that now lives on in Notting Hill carnival; and the quiet, candle lit vigils that surrounded the AIDS crisis in the 80’s; to the communal living of Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp that fought again rising nuclear armament. Across the last century of activism in Britain, resistance exists in many unsuspecting and unruly forms – not just marches and confrontation.

The show charts key moments over its timeline. From the beginnings of the suffragette movement in 1903 and events like the Black People’s day of action and the Miners Strike, to lesser known moments, like the Blind March of 1920, before ending with a focus on the largest protest in British history: the 2003 march against the Iraq war. In the context of these images, a history of photography slowly unfolds. From cumbersome, unsupportable cameras to handheld point and shoots, concluding just as this technology became all the more commonplace – readily accessible to the average citizen.

For Clarrie Wallis, director at the Turner and curator of the exhibtion, Resistance sees photography “evolve from a specialised medium to a grassroots tool for self-documentation”. With the rise of handheld, easily tansportable cameras, media and state surveillance could no longer solely define how history would remember pivotal moments in time. Photographs were not only a tool that came to define the movements that they captured, but a way to ‘bear witness’ – a form of evidence and testimony before the age of social media and smartphones.

Many of the images on display at the Turner were captured by anonymous photographers that we’ll never know the name of, drawn from years of research in public archives and grassroots collections. Many of these images have been previously unseen in print, historical moments that have remained hidden for decades, shielding us from the perspective of activists and communities that fought for the rights we have today. In Resistance, these viewpoints sit comfortably alongside well known photographs and start to, in Clarrie’s words, “democratise the historical narrative”.

It’s Nice That (INT): To start, can you tell us a bit about you and your background? How long have you been the director of the Turner Contemporary?

Clarrie Wallis (CW): Before taking on the role of Director at Turner Contemporary in 2022, I built my career through over two decades in the contemporary art world. I was previously a Senior Curator at Tate, where I realised exhibitions including Steve McQueen: Year 3 (2019), Mike Nelson: The Asset Strippers (2019), and Mona Hatoum (2016). At Turner Contemporary, I’m committed to harnessing the transformative power of art for social regeneration in East Kent, continuing the gallery’s mission to make world-class art available to all.

INT: How did the gallery come to collaborate with Steve McQueen on the project?

CW:I’ve been fortunate to have a long professional working relationship with Steve McQueen since the 1990s. When Year 3 opened at Tate Britain in 2019, Steve spoke to me about working together on a documentary photography project.

Year 3 was McQueen’s ambitious portrait of London that captured thousands of 7 and 8-year-old schoolchildren across the city in traditional class photographs. Following this project, he was particularly interested in exploring resistance within the context of twentieth-century British history. During this four-year research project, I changed jobs, and we decided that the show should stay with me, transitioning to Turner Contemporary.

INT: The show chronicles a century of activism – how long did it take to research and gather such a momentous collection of photography?

CW: The exhibition represents four years of intensive research across a wider range of British archives. We spent time in established institutions like the People’s History Museum and Black Cultural Archives and also explored grassroots collections, including material at the Working Class Movement Library and Bishopsgate Institute. The most time-consuming aspect was identifying previously unseen materials – examining countless boxes of negatives and contact sheets documenting crucial historical moments that had remained hidden for decades. This deep archival work was essential to construct a narrative from the suffragettes of 1903 to the anti-Iraq War protests of 2003.

INT: What were the challenges of working on a project at this scale, sourcing images from both public archives and private collections?

CW: The primary challenge was navigating the sheer volume of uncatalogued material. Many archives lack proper cataloguing resources, requiring painstaking examination of thousands of photographs to identify significant images, often with the help of the advisory committee we assembled to help us with this project. Private collections presented unique challenges – often lacking context or attribution while offering invaluable insider perspectives. The complexity of negotiating rights, especially with anonymous material, added another layer of difficulty to the process.

INT: In what ways does the exhibition reframe conventional narratives of British history?

CW: The exhibition reframes British history by centering grassroots movements that drove social and political change from the margins. It reveals how rights now taken for granted were won by ordinary people – from the Hull trawler wives who transformed maritime safety laws, to disability activists who secured public transport access. By highlighting overlooked moments like the Blind March of 1920 and the Black People’s Day of Action in 1981, the exhibition challenges mainstream historical narratives that privilege institutional changes over community activism. It demonstrates how intersecting struggles for workers’ rights, racial equality, and environmental protection collectively shaped modern Britain.

INT: What do you think the exhibition has to say about how these collective acts have shaped Britain?

CW: The exhibition reveals that contemporary rights and freedoms we might take for granted were hard-won through collective action. From women’s suffrage to workplace safety, from civil rights to environmental protections – each required organised resistance against significant opposition. The photographs demonstrate how movements built upon their predecessors’ tactics while developing new approaches, creating an evolving tradition of resistance.

They show that social progress often begins at the margins, with local communities playing a crucial role in initiating change long before mainstream politics acknowledges their concerns. These photographs show that ordinary citizens challenging injustice have often been key drivers of social transformation throughout British history.

INT: What conclusions does the exhibition make about how the medium of photography itself has shaped protest?

CW: In the nineteenth century, the American social reformer Frederick Douglass recognised photography’s potential power as “a great social leveller; the key to changing thought and therefore to transforming society” – a principle demonstrated throughout this exhibition of a century of British resistance.

Photography transformed protests from local events into national movements by making resistance visible to wider audiences. The Suffragettes pioneered this approach, ensuring press coverage of arrests to amplify their message. As cameras became more accessible, photography evolved from documenting protest to actively shaping it. Community darkrooms and photography collectives created alternative communication channels outside mainstream media, enabling movements to control their narrative.

Resistance is on show at the Turner Contemporary until the 1st of June, 2025.