Photo

Rage Receptacle

Martin Parr’s ‘Protest Box’ Puts Things into Perspective

By Martin Parr

Photos by, Dirk Alvermann, Enrique Bostelmann, Anna Candiani, Paolo Gasparini, Kitai Kazou, and Paola Mattioli

Looking back, it may seem like 2011 was unilaterally defined by protests, riots, uprisings, and general discontent the world over. It is important to note, however, that this perception is greatly informed by the internet and social networking, and that there was a time not long ago when shit-starters didn’t have the ability to organize 5,000 angry students and publicize their grievances via Twitter. Back then, whoever showed up to the petrol-throwing party had to possess balls (or ovaries) of steel, forged in the lava of a giant volcano that spewed molten disgust and outrage. And that’s mostly because if the hammer came down and the marginalized were arrested—or worse—they had no digital safety net to drag them back up from the tombs.

Martin Parr, astute photographic historian that he is, knows the lessons of the past all too well, and earlier this year decided it was high time to reprint five photo books that depict various protest movements from throughout the 60s and 70s. The resulting compendium is The Protest Box (Steidl), and until its release this fall the books were only available to collectors. The five books cover uprisings throughout Latin America, Japan, Algeria, and Italy, and they slide effortlessly into a utilitarian slipcase that looks like it could’ve fallen off the back of an army truck. The box is limited to 1,500 copies and will set you back about $500 (proving once again that discontent ain’t cheap), so we thought it apt to run a few photos from each book contained within—hors d’oeuvres of dissent, if you will.

These photos are taken from Paolo Gasparini’s masterpiece Para Verte Mejor, América Latina, a harrowing documentation of social injustices in Latin America, such as indigenous peoples forced into menial labor and factory jobs. It was first released in 1972 by the Mexican publisher Siglo XXI Editores.