Prints of Resistance

Words by Emilia Sogaard and Maddie Foster

“Make Space: Subverting Tradition through Art” opened last Wednesday at the Norman Rea Gallery. Sally Barton was one of the artists exhibiting and her works bring to life archival photography. She uses art as a form of communication, reflecting historical moments of resistance. Inspired by this exhibition, member Maddie Foster has also explored the artworks of artist Kara Walker.

Speaking to Sally about the art she’s exhibiting, she explained how these posters were the original idea for her whole body of work on the Battle of Orgreave. This image, from the Battle of Orgreave, has been sliced into two posters.

“The Tale of Orgreave”, Sally Barton, Photo from Norman Rea opening night, November 2023.

Following on from opening night at the Norman Rea Gallery, it was interesting to pair this with the responses that Sally has had to her work in different locations, including both London and Sheffield. The different responses are equally rewarding but emphasise the importance of context and how location influences the emotional connection to art.

Sally: In London, you definitely have more of an engagement with the conceptual side of it, how you’ve used this industrial story, and created these sculptures. From the conversations I have had (in Sheffield), as well as talking about the concept, a lot more people were talking about the history, the story of the miner’s strikes its-self and the Battle of Orgreave. I get a good response in London, but it's from such a removed environment to the history.

“The Battle of Orgreave (2001) reenactment of the miners’ strike”, Jeremy Deller, Martin Jenkinson.

Sally also spoke about how she got the chance to speak to artist Jeremy Deller at the Sheffield opening. He has staged a re-enactment of the Battle of Orgreave, bringing the actions of the miner’s into a contemporary setting. This bringing to life of historical moments of resistance is what Sally spoke about as being a core concept to her work.

Sally: I have a fascination with archival photography, it’s almost like time travel. A lot of people when they see a black and white photo of some old white men from the 1980’s – from a place they might never have been – find it so intangible. But, when I make them into these quite whimsical sculptures, firstly it brings them alive a little bit, as they are physically off the page and are quite a funny size (quite small), people are quite funny around them. They obviously don’t want to break them, people get quite close, people interact with them.

Photo of Sally Barton sculptures, Orgreave Fairies, installation at ACME Associate Studio Programme Open Studio.

By reviving the archival imagery, the artworks provide the viewers with a source of connection, and a way to access the historic event. Sally spoke about her artistic practice as a commitment to sharing research and knowledge through contemporary art. Rather than one artwork changing the course of history, it’s more about sharing, unity and education.

Sally: I’m happy if (especially in London) people go home from the exhibition having learnt what Orgreave is. People have never had an interest in the miner’s strike, but it’s so relevant to all the strikes that are happening right now. I see it more as a tool of conversation and education, rather than full on resistance. I think everyone has a different role in resistance.

Artist Kara Walker explores this role of resistance and conversation through her silhouette characters in her prints representing the consequences of slavery, its abolition, and the withstanding legacy impacting on American society in the modern day. Through using these cutouts, Walker caricatures the work of other artists to represent the African American experience in a prejudiced society.

In 2001, Walker’s Endless Conundrum, An African Anonymous Adventuress shows the viewer multiple lives experiencing sexual and racist harassment. The silhouettes are designed to be vague and subjective, contrasting the traditional Victorian art of paper cutting, to describe domesticities with the violent acts towards enslaved people during this time. Although subjective, one can make out what could be a British general leaving a naked woman in the right middle of the installation, which demonstrates the sexual harassment towards enslaved women by British soldiers while captured. Furthermore, the top of the instalment features the African American performer Jospehine Baker, where her iconic ‘banana skirt’ dance enthralled the French audience watching, conforming her into an image of ‘exoticism’. The collection of these silhouettes leave a lasting impact on the observer, as the sharp limbs and stylised movements of the characters reiterate the stereotypes placed on African American people over the changing time periods.

Kara Walker’s installation, Endless Conundrum, An African Anonymous Adventuress, Walker Art Museum.

Walker further explores the representation of racial prejudice in her collection of 27 prints in 1999, The Emancipation Approximation, in which themes of sexism and abuse are demonstrated during the Civil War era. One of the most effective prints in this collection is Scene 18, where a woman cut out in black paper in simple clothing is holding up a woman in white paper, her white skirt lavishly spilling out over the page. The contrast between the stark colours and the struggle of the woman on the bottom is striking in reminding the observer of the abuses placed on people held as slaves to be entirely subservient to their ‘masters’ . Despite the difference in colours there is little contrast in the physical appearance of these women. Yet through their positioning one immediately assumes that the woman in white has more power than the woman in black - revisiting prejudice through colour. As no other colours are featured alongside black, white and grey, the effects of these racial stereotypes are ever more pressing, as some of the only differences in character are in the physical outlines. The collection presses the reader to contemplate the ingrained prejudices towards surface features in American culture in which racial caricatures are a constant feature.

Scene 18 in Emancipation Approximation, Kara Walker.

Through these collections, Walker effectively demonstrates the impact of racial stereotypes and prejudices in America from the time of the Slave Trade, up to the modern day. The use of the traditional art of paper silhouettes allows the observer to focus on the message behind the works and understand the scale of racial violence in America.