Marc Davenant's Rebellion! begins with a well-chosen quote from Oscar Wilde: "Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man's original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion."
The zine is, in the photographer's own words, "a celebration of protest as an essential part of our cultural identity". The images pay tribute to those willing to show the courage of their convictions - often risking ridicule, abuse and even arrest.
For Davenant, the ability to express discontent publicly by means of peaceful protest is a fundamental human right, whatever the motivating cause. The commentary accompanying the images may make his political allegiances clear, but he nevertheless presents respectful portraits of anti-vaxxers and people campaigning against asylum hotels alongside pictures of anti-racism, pro-trans, pro-Gaza and climate change protesters.
In some ways, the zine arguably demonstrates the increasingly polarised and fractious nature of modern society. Yet it's also illustrative of a right that all of those featured could agree is invaluable and inviolable - a right that is gradually and stealthily being eroded through legislation.
Documentary photography often depicts seismic social shifts and dying ways of life. Rebellion! does just this - and calls on us all to stand up for speaking out, before it's too late.
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