An Evening with Steve McQueen and Gary Younge
How protest shaped Britain and photography shaped protest
Steve McQueen is one of Britain’s most acclaimed filmmakers and artists. He is the recipient of the Academy Award for Best Picture, two BAFTA Awards, the Caméra d'Or, a Golden Globe, and the Turner Prize. McQueen’s work includes his first feature-length film Hunger about Bobby Sands and the 1981 Irish hunger strike, the Oscar-winning 12 Years a Slave, the BBC anthology Small Axe, and his most recent film Blitz.
On April 25, McQueen joins us live on the Intelligence Squared stage to discuss the themes of his new book Resistance. Accompanied by a major exhibition of the same name at Turner Contemporary, Resistance is a landmark collection of photographs and essays charting a century of British activism. Speaking alongside author Gary Younge, McQueen will explore the power of collective action and uncover the often-overlooked stories of individuals who have been instrumental in forming modern Britain.
McQueen will discuss how acts of resistance have shaped Britain and the powerful role of photography as a catalyst for change. From the radical suffrage movement in 1903 through key moments including the Battle of Cable Street, the Black People’s Day of Action, Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp and the Miners’ Strike; onto protests against environmental destruction, struggles for LGBTQ+ and disability rights; and the largest protest in Britain’s history: the march against the War in Iraq in 2003.
Join us for an evening of art and discussion at Union Chapel in Islington, and have your questions answered in the Q&A.
Speaker Biographies
Steve McQueen - Artist and filmmaker
Celebrated artist and filmmaker. He has directed five feature films, including the Oscar-winning 12 Years a Slave and, most recently,y Blitz. He is the recipient of two BAFTA Awards and a Golden Globe and winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture. He was honoured with the BFI Fellowship in 2016 and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2020 for services to art and film. In 1999, McQueen was awarded the Turner Prize and has held solo exhibitions all over the world, including representing Britain in the Venice bieniale in 2009, his exhibition Year 3 at Tate Britain (2019), a solo survey at Tate Modern (2020) and Grenfell at the Serpentine South Gallery (2023). His most recent exhibition, Resistance: How protest shaped Britain and photography shaped protest, curated by Clarrie Wallis with Emma Lewis at Turner Contemporary in Margate, is open until June 1. A photography book of the same name accompanies the exhibition.
