Sarah Mayhew Craddock on an edgy show exploring the art of political protest and dissent

Are you sitting uncomfortably? Then I’ll begin… Situated in a warehouse on the edge of Oxford’s city centre, OVADA never fails to feel edgy. With its current exhibition Resistance is Fertile bringing together leading photographers, poets and protest artists, never has this felt more the case.

Artist friends the length and breadth of the country had a lot to say about the results of the recent General Election – and with discontent comes creativity. So between the appointment of a Conservative government (responded to by artist Bob and Roberta Smith), and the 31st anniversary of the Battle of Orgreave (responded to by the artist Jeremy Deller) Resistance is Fertile is a particularly timely exploration of protest and the art that it engenders to bring about social change. Packing quite the metaphorical punch, the exhibition is that of hard-hitting, challenging, behind-the-curtain storytelling that makes for compulsive, if uncomfortable, viewing.

The show has been curated by Oxford-based polymath Adrian Arbib, who knows only too well just how fertile resistance can be. First and foremost, Arbib is a celebrated documentary photographer who has travelled extensively for national papers covering human rights stories in areas of conflict including Rwanda, the Horn of Africa, West Papua and India.

Explaining his reasons for choosing to curate Resistance is Fertile, he said: “I felt there hadn’t been a show like this before. One of the things I noticed [at political demonstrations] was the art that comes at the front of demos: the placards, people dressing up in Samba costumes, the music, the comedy, the political edge that it had. I wanted to bring that together in one place, in a kind of gallery environment without being too stuffy.”

Drawing from his little black book of peers who have inspired him over the years, Arbib has gathered together an impressive selection of 22 artists working in a variety of media who have focused their creative lenses on social movements, including the miners’ strike, environmental campaigns, poll tax demos and land rights.

Arbib said: “We’ve also got a lot of photography selected from guys I’ve respected over the years – some edgy stuff from Northern Ireland, from Orgreave. You know, these are photographers who have actually been there, lived it all.”

On some of the other artists and artworks on display, Arbib added: “There’s Jamie Reid, who created artwork for the Sex Pistols. Billy Childish, we’ve also got Emily Johns… she went to Goldmiths with Damian Hirst, she went one way, he went another. And then we’ve got Jimmy Cauty, who’s done these riots in jam jars. They’re fantastic, we’ve got about 50 of those and they have to be seen to be believed. They’re mass riot scenes inside jam jars with LED lights and tipped over lorries on the M4 – just mad stuff!

“We’ve got an area called The Grey Space, and in there is a lovely exhibit by a guy called Tony Sleep; Frestonia, it’s an area of West London that was squatted and actually applied to the United Nations for independence in 1977. We’ve got a gallery of about 40 images of that, with some video archive in there as well.”

Frestonia, the name adopted by the residents and squatters of Freston Road, has a few parallels with OVADA that make the venue very appropriate for this exhibition. OVADA used to be located in Gloucester Green but decamped to an unassuming and slightly grubby old warehouse space in Osney Lane a few years ago.

Fighting for survival and determined to carve out its own identity in a city that didn’t appear to have the space or inclination to accommodate it, OVADA pulled up its socks, reinvented itself and has since been going from strength to strength.

It now boats an exciting and progressive programme of exhibitions and events. Amongst them is Stammtich, taking place on June 25 at 7pm, at which award-winning video journalist and campaign filmmaker Zoe Broughton will present an illustrated talk about her work.

One of the artists exhibiting in Resistance is Fertile, Broughton has spent more than 20 years putting herself on the frontline – going undercover at an animal-testing lab, chased by police while filming on a high-speed motor boat and dodging landmines in Burma.

Resistance is Fertile continues until Sunday at OVADA warehouse, 14A Osney Lane, Oxford OX1 1NJ. Free.
ovada.org.uk/resistance-is-fertile-events/