DAVID
SLADEK
From Czech Republic..Lives and works in London.
On the Culture of Protest
The UK has, in recent years, seen an unprecedented number of demonstrations. Political and social unrest originally galvanised by the financial crisis and austerity culminated in several seasons of protest on topics including Brexit, women’s rights and the NHS. While most media seemed to be focused on the size of the rallies and picking on the front line activists or creativity of their placards.
David Sladek wanted to look beyond the banners, deeper into the crowds and study their interaction with streets. He discovered scores of stories – some hidden in the depths of the marches, some running in the background and others on the edges. Sladek saw children, introduced to protests by their parents, creating their micro universes while repeating chants and later resting exhausted between the scattered banners. He witnessed a vibrant cultural experience unique, perhaps, only to London and a palette of emotions far wider than anger and frustration. And, of course, he met the media – dozens of photographers and TV crews.
Many of them became familiar faces just like the activists in their viewfinders. Within the relatively short period of the two-and-a-half years that Sladek has been visiting these rallies, the socio-political establishment has shifted by a mile. Take, for example, Brexit itself: shaking the whole of Europe to its core and dividing British society into two distinct camps. And, despite the triggered.
