At first look, episodes of social and political resistance in such disparate places and times as a Colorado mining town in 1903-4, Berlin during the 1920s and 1930s, events leading up to the Partition of India in 1947, and AIDS-related protests in New York City during the 1980s may seem to have little in common. Yet, despite their many important differences, what they all share is the appearance of montage as a means of visually expressing radical critiques of the existing social orders. As used in this essay, “montage” refers to the selection, editing or altering of existing images, phrases or symbols, and their reassembly into a new work that expresses a critique of the dominant.

While the presence of montage in these and other places, times, and contexts is relatively easy to establish, the significance of this observation is much more elusive. Thus, the purpose of this essay is to articulate a perspective from which one might begin to discuss its significance, as well as to suggest the outlines of a history of montage as a popularly available means of visual critique and form of participatory alternative media.