Susan Meiselas: No Kings documents protest in the United States during Donald Trump’s second presidency, from the period before his second inauguration through the 2026 midterm elections. Photographer Susan Meiselas focuses on the handmade signs carried by demonstrators in New York City and Washington, D.C. The signs use humour, anger, satire, and direct political language to express the concerns of people taking part in public demonstrations.
The book treats these signs as evidence of political participation and as examples of contemporary graphic culture. Made from cardboard, paper, paint, and other readily available materials, they translate individual opinions into public statements. Some are carefully designed, while others appear quickly assembled for a specific protest. Together, they show how ordinary citizens use visual language to respond to government decisions and to assert their presence in political debate.
Meiselas’s photographs place the signs within the demonstrations where they appeared, connecting individual messages to crowds, streets, and the wider atmosphere of protest. The images record more than slogans. They also show the creativity, frustration, humour, and disagreement that shaped public gatherings during a period of intense political conflict. The book presents protesters as active participants in the production of a visual record, rather than simply as subjects observed by a photographer.
No Kings: Signs of the Times includes an essay by Eduardo Cadava, a sequence of executive orders, and a fragmentary history of contemporary newspaper headlines compiled by Laura Wexler. These materials place the photographs within a broader record of political decisions and public response. Published by Editorial RM, the volume connects documentary photography with social history and print culture, showing how protest images and handmade signs preserve the language of political opposition at a specific moment in American life.
Susan Meiselas: No Kings
Category: Photographer Monographs & Art Books
Author: Susan Meiselas
Publisher: RM
Publication Date:
October 2026
Print Length: 256 pages
Language: English
Price: paid
paid
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