Throughout history artists have continued to make work in response to political, social and economic upheaval. The works in this section engage with some of the most important issues and events of our recent history which have become the focus of artists' critical intervention.

Each work in this room emerged from a particular moment of crisis, either personal or political. Together, they demonstrate how artists have become immersed in ideological disputes, protesting against contemporary injustice on both a personal and an international scale. Many use the human body as a vehicle to express and record these social concerns.

This display reflects two differing approaches to the theme of conflict. Tracey Moffat, Donald Rodney, and Jason Evans and Simon Foxton portray key personal issues such as childhood experience and trauma; our sense of identity and its relationship to class, race and gender; power and freedom of expression.

In contrast, the display also reflects a new spirit of political and social radicalism that has inspired artists in recent times. Artists such as Johan Grimonprez, Jake and Dinos Chapman, and RB Kitaj deal with world-wide conflict, such as terrorism, war and political asylum, and use a variety of forms, such as text, image and sound, to confront and document social inequalities of the modern world.

The Chapman brothers (Jake & Dinos Chapman)
Disasters of War, 1993

Mixed media
displayed: 1300 x 2000 x 2000 mm
sculpture