Resistance Through Art

"Day by day, throughout the world, the media network is replacing truths with lies. Not primarily political or ideological lies (they come later), but visual, concrete lies about what human life and natural life actually consist of. All lies converge in one gigantic fraud: the assumption that life itself is a commodity, and that those who can afford to buy it are, by definition, those who deserve it! Most of us know this is wrong, but very little of what is shown to us strengthens our resistance."

According to Berger, art does exactly this; it strengthens our resistance. In this book of sincere and original essays on art and artists, Berger discusses not only the works of artists like Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Degas, Van Gogh, Kahlo, and Brancusi, but also the tens of thousands of years old cave paintings in France and the Faiyum mummy portraits in Egypt. The book also includes the author's correspondence with Subcomandante Marcos and the text of a radio program he hosted. As a whole, this collection reminds us how indispensable and curative art is for the inner and outer world of humans, for the individual and for society.

"Today, to attempt to portray what exists is an act of resistance that encourages hope," Berger says in one essay. In another, he adds: "An act of resistance is not simply to refuse to accept the absurdity of the world-picture presented to us, but to announce its invalidity. When hell is declared invalid from within, its hellishness ends."