The War of Art: A History of Artists’ Protest in America
Verso, 2025
240 pages
140mm × 210mm
Pre-order now

Beyond the financialised art market and mega-star artists, creativity remains a space of experimentation, the power of collective efforts and, a means of resistance. The War of Art charts the postwar story of those who have used their art as a form of political protest. The book offers portraits of the key individuals and groups of art activists who have campaigned for solidarity, housing, LGBTQ+ and Indigenous justice, greater inclusion of women in the art world and AIDS awareness, including the Black Emergency Cultural Coalition (BECC) Women Artists in Revolution (WAR), David Wojnarowicz’s work with ACT UP, Top Value Television (TVTV), Agnes Denes, Edgar Heap of Birds, Dyke Action Machine!, fierce pussy,  Project Row Houses and Nan Goldin’s Prescription Addiction Intervention Now (PAIN).

Based upon in-depth interviews with the key figures in the movements, O’Neill-Butler argues that the braiding of art and politics is an essential, yet overlooked, part of America’s cultural history; that artists have long fought hard against injustices; and that art itself can in fact “do more.”

Events: stay tuned.