Reading Room
24 May 24 – 31 August 2025
A hands-on touring reading room exhibition sharing a selection of the protest and resistance books, posters, zines and indie journals showcased in Flashpoint! Protest Photography in Print, 1950-Present publication
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.
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.
CPW
25 Dederick Street
Kingston, NY 12401
Tel: 845 679 9957
Gallery Hours:
Thursday to Sunday, 11 am – 5 pm
Press about the Flashpoint! Reading Room at CPW:
Chronogram Magazine by Margo Issacs
Musée Magazine (CPW review)
Blind Magazine (CPW review / PDF) by Itzel Robles Sandoval
The Eye of Photography (CPW review)
SayArt (CPW review)
Buy the publication
