Exhibitions

Resistance

Name: Resistance
Start: 2025-02-22T10:00:00+00:00
End: 2025-02-22T17:00:00+00:00
Location: Resistance

Sat 22 Feb–Sun 1 Jun 2025

Book tickets Plan your visit

Entry

Free

Dates

Sat 22 Feb–Sun 1 Jun 2025

Hours

Tue–Sun, 10am–5pm
and Bank Holidays

Location

Selman Gallery, Irene Willett Gallery, South Gallery & North Gallery
Turner Contemporary

How protest shaped Britain and photography shaped protest.

From militant suffragettes to the mass demonstration against the Iraq War, photographers have witnessed a century of British resistance. This landmark exhibition, curated by acclaimed artist and filmmaker Steve McQueen, tells forgotten stories of how ordinary people fought for change between 1903 and 2003.

Admission to Turner is free. A one-off or regular donation will help support artists to realise exciting new exhibitions and inspire over 300,000 children, young people and adults each year with free access to art and creative activities.

The camera is a powerful tool. And for over a century, it has been quietly documenting and driving change in Britain. Giving a bigger voice to ordinary people, putting a spotlight on injustice, and empowering the individuals who fought to put things right.

This exhibition looks at a century of protest. It's about the people who acted against poverty, racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, climate change and discrimination. How individuals and movements came together to support a cause. And how the camera captured their determination and created a bigger platform by reaching a wider audience.

By connecting poignant images of social struggles, movements and protests, you’ll explore the story of a country and what matters to its people. Celebrating the grassroots movements who have confronted oppression. Be it civil rights, disability rights, women's rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and calling out racism we have worked with experts on a four-year research project to tell their stories.

‘This exhibition… explores how people have challenged the status quo—a mission that feels especially urgent in today’s political climate.’

Steve McQueen

Featured photographers

Vanley Burke, Henry Grant, Fay Godwin, Edith Tudor-Hart, Tish Murtha, Humphrey Spender, Christine Spengler, Andrew Testa, Paul Trevor and Janine Wiedel.

Eddie Worth, An anti-fascist demonstrator is taken away under arrest after a mounted baton charge during the Battle of Cable Street, London, 4 October 1936 © Alamy

About the Artist

Steve McQueen is a multi-award-winning British film director, producer, screenwriter, and artist. His work is known for raising the voices of underrepresented people. Presenting overlooked histories in creative and compelling ways.

Born in London in 1969, McQueen studied painting at London’s Chelsea College of Art and Design. He later moved on to film courses at Goldsmiths College and New York University. In 1999 his exhibition at the ICA won the Turner Prize.

From gallery walls to cinema screens

In 2008 he released his first feature film, historical drama Hunger (2008) about the 1981 Irish hunger strike. This was followed by Shame in 2011 before he won the Academy Award for Best Picture with 12 Years a Slave. His most recent film Blitz came out in 2024.

Works and awards

Surveys of his work have been held at the Art Institute of Chicago and Laurenz Foundation, Schaulager Basel (2012–13); Tate Modern, London (2020); and Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan (2022). Recent solo presentations include those at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2016); the Art Institute of Chicago(2017); Museum of Modern Art, New York (2017); Pérez Art Museum, Miami (2017); Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester (2017); Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston (2017–18); Tate Britain, London (2019–21); and Serpentine Gallery, London (2023). McQueen has participated in Documenta X (1997) and XI (2002), as well as the Venice Biennale (2003, 2007, 2013, and 2015), representing the United Kingdom in 2009. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Turner Prize (1999); W. E. B. Du Bois Medal, Harvard University (2014); and Johannes Vermeer Award (2016).

McQueen was recently awarded The 2024 Rolf Schock Prize in Visual Arts. He was declared Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 2002, Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 2011, and Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 2020. McQueen directed the feature films Hunger (2008), Shame (2011), 12 Years a Slave (2014), and Widows (2018); as well as the series Small Axe (2020), an anthology of five films shown on the BBC and Amazon; and Uprising (2021), a three-part documentary series for the BBC. His documentary Occupied City (2023) is based on the book Atlas van een bezette stad:Amsterdam 1940-1945 (Atlas of an Occupied City: Amsterdam 1940–1945, 2019) by Bianca Stigter. McQueen's latest film Blitz was released this November (2024). McQueen won the Caméra d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival for Hunger in 2008 and an Oscar for Best Motion Picture for 12 Years a Slave in 2014.

Portrait of Steve McQueen © Thomas Dane Gallery. Photo: James Stopforth — Portrait of Steve McQueen © Thomas Dane Gallery.
Photo: James Stopforth

Accessibility information

We offer free monthly BSL tours of all our exhibitions which you can book here.

We also subtitle all our films where possible and offer written transcripts of both films and audio works on display.

A hearing loop system is in place at our retail and café counters.

We’re wheelchair accessible, with step-free access and a lift serving both floors. You can enter the gallery via the access ramp to the right of the entrance steps.

You can also borrow a wheelchair or portable stool during your visit, and our staff will be happy to help if you require any additional assistance.

Large print versions of the exhibition text and magnifying sheets are available. Please ask a member of staff if you would like to use them.

Our staff are trained in delivering audio descriptive tours. If you would like more information about booking an audio described tour please get in touch with us: access@turnercontemporary.org | +44(0)1843 233 000 (operated daily 10am–5pm)

Audio versions of the exhibition text can be found on our free digital guide on the Bloomberg Connects app. For more information and to download the app click here.

Entry to the exhibition is free.

We're open:
10am–5pm, Tuesday to Sunday
And every Bank Holiday.

Turner Contemporary, Rendezvous, Margate, CT9 1HG

Support

The exhibition is generously supported by The Ampersand Foundation Award 2023 and the Dana and Albert R. Broccoli Charitable Foundation. Curatorial research for the exhibition has been made possible through funding from the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art. The publication is funded by The Ampersand Foundation. Turner Contemporary extends its gratitude to our public funders, Kent County Council and Arts Council England, for their ongoing support.

Thank you to the Advisory Committee for their crucial support:
Sundari Anitha, Diane Atkinson, Tony Baldwinson, Justin Bengry, Stella Dadzie, Paul Gilroy, Paul Jackson, Nick Jones, Jenny Pickerill, Matthias Reiss, Lisa Tickner and Vron Ware.

With thanks to all the photographers, known and unknown, and their estates for their invaluable contributions. We are equally grateful to the archives who generously shared their collections, providing access to material that brings these narratives to life.