Inspired by John Heartfield (1891-1968), often described as the inventor of political photomontage, Peter Kennard (*1949) began working with the medium in the 1970s. His works commented on and criticized the Vietnam War, apartheid and nuclear armament, among other things. Kennard developed a distinctive style that bridges the gap between high art and mass media, allowing him to reach a wide audience.
»My art erupts from outrage at the fact that the search for financial profit rules every nook and cranny of our society. Profit masks poverty, racism, war, climate catastrophe and on and on…Archive of Dissent brings together fifty years of work that all attempt to express that anger by ripping through the mask by cutting, tearing, montaging and juxtaposing imagery that we are all bombarded with daily. It shows what lies behind the mask […]«, says Kennard about his art and about the current exhibition Peter Kennard: Archive of Dissent at London's Whitechapel Gallery. The exhibits will be on display there from July 23, 2024 to January 19, 2025.
One of the most comprehensive exhibitions on Peter Kennard brings together works from the 1970s to the present day. Among others, his installations Boardroom and Double Exposure, both from 2023, as well as his new work The People's University of the East End (2024) will be on display. Kennard works in London and is Emeritus Professor of Political Art at the Royal College of Art. His best-known works include Haywain with Cruise Missiles (1980), a photomontage on nuclear disarmament that quotes John Constable's painting The Hay Wain (1821).
