In 2013, six Cree youth from Whapmagoostui walked 1,600 km to Ottawa as part of the Idle No More movement to support Chief Theresa Spence and Indigenous rights. Joined by others along the way, they were celebrated as symbols of Indigenous resilience and unity.

Walking to Save Some Sea documents Fran Crowe’s year-long response to ocean plastic pollution. Between 2006–07 she walked 200km of coastline, collecting 46,000 pieces of litter - one square mile’s worth—turning personal action into a call for collective responsibility.

In Vietnamese Women, Spero repeats an image of a Vietnamese woman fleeing the 1968 civilian massacre, taken from the news. Figures are layered, smudged, and collaged to convey movement, with the cigarette in her mouth symbolizing survival.

In 1966, farmworkers marched 300 miles from Delano to Sacramento to protest low wages, unsafe working conditions, and the denial of union rights. Their action drew national support, pressured growers and officials, and helped secure the first farmworker union contract.

Gates of Troy (1969) unravels aluminum in the street, referencing Homer’s Iliad - Achilles dragging Hector’s corpse. The twisting metal takes on a corporeal presence, documented in both street and studio photographs.

The City Invaded by Blank Space (1973) is a participatory artwork presented at the 12th São Paulo Biennial during Brazil’s military dictatorship. Through blank signs, media interventions, and public actions, it created spaces for free expression, challenged censorship and state control, and culminated in the artist’s arrest, marking a powerful act of political resistance.

On May 1, 1972, Joseph Beuys and two students swept Karl-Marx-Platz in West Berlin, collecting rubbish from Labor Day demonstrations. The act highlighted social inequalities, embodied his idea of art as social transformation, and reflected his political activism.