Assignment Research: Peter Kennard

Peter Kennard is a British photographer and photo montage artist.  He creates manipulated images to express his political views and to communicate them to a larger audience.  His work is displayed as part of Tate Britain's permanent collection.

Photo op, Peter Kennard, Cat Picton Phillipps, 2004-2007.

Perhaps Kennard's best known image is of Tony Blair taking his own picture in front of an Iraqi oil field explosion.  The image is a composite image which means it has been created using more than one image.  I have included the original image of Tony Blair taking his picture in front of children and navy cadets below.

Blair was cut out of the picture and layered onto the background explosion picture.  The process itself is quite straight forward but the idea of using these particular images to send a political message is very clever.  Tony Blair was highly ridiculed for his decision to invade Iraq without sufficient evidence and this photo montage with him grinning so much is like he's getting himself a souvenir of his war.  The fact that Blair is in a shirt and tie suggests he's achieved all of this destruction from a far in an office somewhere.  The way the whole picture looks is humorous but it's serious message undermines the government.

Union Mask, Peter Kennard.

Union Mask to me represents how some people believe Britain and America have a grip on the world.  I believe that the British and American flags for the eyes is a message from Kennard that the conflicts that we are in have been created by ourselves and we've masked the world in war.

The Haywain with Cruise Missiles, Peter Kennard.



This image is a composite where Kennard has layered cruise missiles onto a picture of John Constables famous painting The Haywain.  His images all have a similar message and this is no different.  The image is a juxtaposition and stark contrast of a rural idyllic setting versus nuclear weapons. 

Kennard never seems to have anything positive to say in his montages, they always seem to be negative and critical of governments and the wars that they fight.