These works take up images and materials associated with activism, such as flags, banners and historical photographs. There are two concurrent themes here: the nostalgic lens through which protest is often viewed, and popular culture’s romanticisation of contemporary dissent.
The mood of these works is often melancholy and reflective. When looking back at past moments of protest, the artists seem to be asking whether protest remains viable today. Yet works by artists such as Mathew Jones, among many others, show that looking back might be positive – an attempt to extract something valuable from the past. Theirs is an active remaking: inhabiting the past, identifying a lineage for themselves and investing the facts of history with present day emotion
