May 24 – August 31, 2025
Curated by Russet Lederman and Olga Yatskevich
Opening reception: Saturday, May 24, 2025,
5:00-8:00 PM
Flashpoint! Protest Photography in Print, 1950–Present explores the diverse roles and varying aesthetics that photography in print undertakes in its support of protest and political resistance. The exhibition comprises photobooks, zines, reproductions of posters, pamphlets, independent journals, and alternative newspapers from all over the world that address—and participate in—protest. Visitors will be able to peruse a hands-on reading room featuring many of the photobooks and zines included in the book titled Flashpoint!, edited by Russet Lederman and Olga Yatskevich (10×10 Photobooks, 2024). The works in the exhibition reflect the thematic structure of the original 10×10 book, organized into seven topics: Anti, Gender, Displacement, Race & Class, Environment, Political, and War & Violence.
The book won placement on the 2024 Paris Photo–Aperture PhotoBook Awards Shortlist, and will be available for sale at CPW (and also on CPW’s online shop) once the exhibition opens May 24.
Some of the questions prompted by this powerful collection of media include: Is protest photography 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 fliers plastered on street walls? How do we consider an elegantly designed photobook, published a year or more after an event, often with the help of well-known photographers, writers and designers, so as to document a past uprising? Whether outright rage or a more subtle artist-driven commentary, Flashpoint! 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.
