In Search of the Militant Image
October 30, 2026–January 17, 2027
Amsterdam 1093KS
The Netherlands
Hours: Tuesday–Sunday 12–6pm
Artists: Basel Abbas & Ruanne Abou-Rahme, Haig Aivazian, Isshaq Albarbary, Hannah Black, Nolan Oswald Dennis, Chaw Ei Thein, Giraffe Leung, Bahar Noorizadeh, Yoshua Okón & Juan Obando, Sawangwongse Yawnghwe
Curators: Hera Chan and Edwin Nasr
Spatial design: Ali T. As’ad
Graphic design: Farah Fayyad
From October 30, 2026–January 17, 2027, Framer Framed in Amsterdam is proud to present the exhibition Life After Love: In Search of the Militant Image. Curated by Hera Chan and Edwin Nasr, the exhibition surveys how the visual grammar of militancy has shifted across the global uprisings of the past decade, tracing resonances between struggles that have unfolded from Hong Kong to Beirut, and from Yangon to Jenin.
Life After Love asks what the changing forms of political struggle reveal about the changing forms of image-making. If the militant image of the twentieth century emerged alongside mass party politics, anti-colonial liberation movements and the project of revolutionary cinema, what becomes of that tradition within a conjuncture shaped by digital platforms, algorithmic circulation and decentralised forms of political organising?
The exhibition approaches the militant image as a historical category, which has always depended upon particular forms of mediation. Earlier traditions of militant image-making were sustained by formations capable of producing and circulating images in the name of a collective political subject. Their ambitions were inseparable from the infrastructures through which they moved and the revolutionary horizons they sought to cultivate.
Contemporary uprisings unfold under markedly different terms. Images now circulate across encrypted messaging applications, social media feeds and informal digital networks whose logics reshape our visibility and attention. Often produced by those embedded within the events themselves, they move rapidly between testimony, tactical communication and affective expression. Their aesthetic form bears the imprint of the political moment from which they emerge: anonymity, spontaneity and opacity become qualities inscribed within the images.
Rather than asking whether the militant image survives in the present, Life After Love asks how its political function has been transformed, and what this transformation discloses about the actuality of struggle. Bringing together artists, cultural workers and community organisers, the exhibition reflects upon the conditions through which images are produced, circulated, appropriated and contested. Many of the works emerge from practices situated alongside political organising, mutual aid and community work, where cultural production unfolds in close proximity to lived struggle and the imperative of internationalist solidarity. Taken together, they invite viewers to consider the militant image in the present tense and the forms through which emancipatory futures become thinkable.
Alongside the exhibition, a public programme expands on its themes through conversations, performances and collective gatherings, including contributions by participating artists, and an Art Workers’ Assembly organised in collaboration with Platform BK and the exhibition’s curators.
Public programme
October 30: Exhibition Opening
October 31: Conversations with Participating Artists
November 22: Art Workers’ Assembly with Platform BK
January 17: Performance by Bahar Noorizadeh
For press enquiries, please contact: press@framerframed.nl
Life After Love is curated by Hera Chan and Edwin Nasr. Hera Chan is a cultural worker living in Amsterdam and Yogyakarta by way of Hong Kong. She is Adjunct Curator, Asia-Pacific, supported by Asymmetry, at Tate. Edwin Nasr is a Berlin-based writer and curator from Lebanon. He has held curatorial roles at Ashkal Alwan and CCA Berlin - Center for Contemporary Arts.
About Framer Framed
Framer Framed is an Amsterdam-based platform for contemporary art, visual culture and critical reflection. The organisation works closely together with artists, thinkers and communities on exhibitions and public programmes addressing urgent social issues.
Framer Framed is supported by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science; Amsterdam Fund for the Arts; and the Municipality of Amsterdam.
