Art of Resistance: celebrating a hundred years of activism in Bristol

Beginning officially in the new year, the Trinity Centre will be running a two-year project, celebrating one hundred years of activism in Bristol. Women’s equality, workers’ rights and anti-fascism are just some of the movements that will be reflected on through art and grassroots research.

The project will explore Bristol’s rich history of protest and civil disobedience through a series of talks, events, exhibitions and art commissions. Funding of £150,000 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund will also support the creation of a permanent online archive.

The archive will be filled with the untold stories of ordinary people who participated in social and political movements in Bristol over the last hundred years.

A new outdoor gallery, which forms part of the Art of Resistance project, can be found along the railings of  Trinity Centre and will be regularly updated to reflect the themes explored in the talks and workshops taking place each month.

An image from Bristol’s Black Lives Matter protest is currently displayed at part of the outdoor gallery. Photo by Yvonne Deeney

Although project activities will not begin until the new year, the outdoor gallery was launched in October with photos documenting the Black Lives Matter movement, alongside celebrating Black History Month. The project organisers also wanted to mark the ten-year anniversary of the Equality Act, a piece of legislation passed in October 2010 that legally protects people from discrimination in the workplace and wider society.

The programme of events, to be finalised in 2021, will document a diverse range of historical events: from the Old Market Riots of 1932 to the Bristol Bus Boycott in 1963. Interviews and talks will include some “big names”, says project coordinator and historian Dr Edson Burton, who is currently in discussion with Billy Bragg and Ken Loach.

Counter-cultural movements where people have broken away from mainstream cultural practices will also be researched and showcased as part of the Art of Resistance project. These include the free party scene, Rastafarianism, and squat culture.

The spirit of the moments which have shaped history will be captured through the gathering of artifacts such as flags, badges, photographs, songs, posters and zines. Lead researchers will help track down what until now remained in “people’s heads or their sheds,” says Burton.

“If you were a member of Greenpeace or CND in the early days you might have something in your loft from that time as part of your protest.”

Dr Burton, who is also the heritage and engagement curator at the Trinity Centre is keen for the project to go beyond “official kinds of research” and recreate the language and symbolism behind historical movements:

“There are areas of history that are underrepresented. There is the fact that we as people who take part in movements to different extents are historical agents: we are making history. The things that we create form part of a story that will be lost if we do not value it. As a city that is known for it’s activism we can’t just rely on official kinds of research.”

To find out more about Art of Resistance visit www.trinitybristol.org.uk

Main photo by Yvonne Deeney

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