Peter Kennard
Encyclopedia
Peter Kennard is a London
born and based photomontage
artist and senior tutor in photography at the Royal College of Art
. Seeking to reflect his involvement in the anti-Vietnam War movement, he turned from painting to photomontage to better address his political views. He is best known for the images he created for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
(CND) in the 1970s-80s.
Because many of the left-wing
organisations and publications he used to work with have disappeared, Kennard has turned to using exhibitions, books and the internet for his work.
Kennard has work in the public collections of several major London museums and the The Arts Council of England. He has his work displayed as part of Tate Britain
's permanent collection.
in London.
has said of this collaborative work:
In June 2007 Kennard and Picton-Phillips launched a new project in London, called 'Blairaq', to mark Tony Blair
's last week as Prime Minister. The works were critical of Blair's key involvement in the second war against Iraq. Kennard is quoted as saying:
In 2008 Kennard and Picton-Phillips travelled to Bethlehem
with the graffiti artist, Banksy
, as part of an artists' movement in support of the local Palestinians
.
Kennard's latest project in 2011 is @earth
, a story without words told in the language of photomontages. It takes the form of a small book priced at £9.99, published by the Tate Gallery, which Kennard believed was a reasonably cheap and accessible way of getting his message to young people outside the artworld. The book contains a variety of images from Kennard's 40-year career and, as a result, attracts the criticism that its targets are too general. Kennard's reply was that he wanted "to encourage people to think about their own situation and activate, but I'm not trying to tell them to do this or that. I'm just trying to show how I see the world at the moment."
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
born and based photomontage
Photomontage
Photomontage is the process and result of making a composite photograph by cutting and joining a number of other photographs. The composite picture was sometimes photographed so that the final image is converted back into a seamless photographic print. A similar method, although one that does not...
artist and senior tutor in photography at the Royal College of Art
Royal College of Art
The Royal College of Art is an art school located in London, United Kingdom. It is the world’s only wholly postgraduate university of art and design, offering the degrees of Master of Arts , Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy...
. Seeking to reflect his involvement in the anti-Vietnam War movement, he turned from painting to photomontage to better address his political views. He is best known for the images he created for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament is an anti-nuclear organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty...
(CND) in the 1970s-80s.
Because many of the left-wing
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
organisations and publications he used to work with have disappeared, Kennard has turned to using exhibitions, books and the internet for his work.
Kennard has work in the public collections of several major London museums and the The Arts Council of England. He has his work displayed as part of Tate Britain
Tate Britain
Tate Britain is an art gallery situated on Millbank in London, and part of the Tate gallery network in Britain, with Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is the oldest gallery in the network, opening in 1897. It houses a substantial collection of the works of J. M. W. Turner.-History:It...
's permanent collection.
Education
Kennard was originally trained as a painter at the Slade School of Fine ArtSlade School of Fine Art
The Slade School of Fine Art is a world-renownedart school in London, United Kingdom, and a department of University College London...
in London.
Exhibitions and projects
Since the build-up to the second Iraq War in 2002 Kennard has been working with artist Cat Picton Phillipps. John BergerJohn Berger
John Peter Berger is an English art critic, novelist, painter and author. His novel G. won the 1972 Booker Prize, and his essay on art criticism Ways of Seeing, written as an accompaniment to a BBC series, is often used as a university text.-Education:Born in Hackney, London, England, Berger was...
has said of this collaborative work:
Peter Kennard and Cat Picton-Phillipps, in these memorable images, in these images that refuse to be forgotten, go very close to the griefs being inflicted – they are still-lifes of grief, and, at the same time includes the time-scale of the mountain. They are the opposite of news flashes. They are full of history’s irony, fury and anger at the mistakes made in its name. They reveal the tawdriness of the Gang’s half-truths. They acknowledge the pain of what is happening. They might be quoting Simone WeilSimone WeilSimone Weil , was a French philosopher, Christian mystic, and social activist.-Biography:Weil was born in Paris to Alsatian agnostic Jewish parents who fled the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine to Germany. She grew up in comfortable circumstances, and her father was a doctor. Her only sibling was...
who wrote: “There is a natural alliance between truth and affliction, because both of them are mute supplicants, eternally condemned to stand speechless in our presence.” And they are exemplary because, in face of such inevitable speechlessness, they remind us of the need to speak out in protest, the protests of the dead and the living.
In June 2007 Kennard and Picton-Phillips launched a new project in London, called 'Blairaq', to mark Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
's last week as Prime Minister. The works were critical of Blair's key involvement in the second war against Iraq. Kennard is quoted as saying:
“We wanted to make really big work. The scale represents the extent of the destruction. We wanted it all to be much more physical than anything we had done before, and we hope that makes it easier for people to interact with it... We never conceived that our work would be part of persuading people to change their minds. Instead, we wanted to make art for the movement. We wanted people to be able to come and find their views echoed and validated by the work. To see in it the reasons why we marched and protested."
In 2008 Kennard and Picton-Phillips travelled to Bethlehem
Bethlehem
Bethlehem is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank of the Jordan River, near Israel and approximately south of Jerusalem, with a population of about 30,000 people. It is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate of the Palestinian National Authority and a hub of Palestinian culture and tourism...
with the graffiti artist, Banksy
Banksy
Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist, film director, and painter.His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine irreverent dark humour with graffiti done in a distinctive stencilling technique...
, as part of an artists' movement in support of the local Palestinians
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
.
Kennard's latest project in 2011 is @earth
@earth
@earth is a 2011 book made by London born photomontage artist Peter Kennard with Lebanese artist Tarek Salhany. It is a photo-essay told through photomontage with seven chapters exposing the current state of the earth, the conditions of life on it and the need to resist injustice...
, a story without words told in the language of photomontages. It takes the form of a small book priced at £9.99, published by the Tate Gallery, which Kennard believed was a reasonably cheap and accessible way of getting his message to young people outside the artworld. The book contains a variety of images from Kennard's 40-year career and, as a result, attracts the criticism that its targets are too general. Kennard's reply was that he wanted "to encourage people to think about their own situation and activate, but I'm not trying to tell them to do this or that. I'm just trying to show how I see the world at the moment."