RESISTANCE

Resistance at Summerhall is the latest iteration of an ambitious two year long work, conceived by renowned poet and artist Peter Sacks. Originally shown at the Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University in 2022 the exhibition consists of a sequence of sixty two portraits of iconic figures who fought against political, racial, and cultural oppression.  The series has evolved to include political activists, novelists, poets, philosophers and artists who struggled in myriad ways against all forms of repression and injustice. They include political heroes such as Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Gandhi, Rosa Parks, Nelson Mandela, Steve Biko and Volodymyr Zelensky. The exhibition also features important artists and writers such as Anna Akhmatova, James Baldwin and Samuel Beckett. Each individual portrait incorporates a collage made up of fabric, paint, personal items and pieces of text that are unique to its’ subject and convey specific details of their lives and struggle. These elements take the work beyond the representational and hint at the dramatic complexity of exceptional lives. Resistance is a collaboration between Summerhall Visual Arts and beyond Borders International.

Peter Sacks will be speaking about the exhibition at the Beyond Borders International Festival, which takes place at Traquair House in the Scottish Borders on 26-27 August 2023.