Peter Kennard

Peter Kennard (born 17 February 1949) is a London born and based photomontage artist and Senior Research Reader in Photography, Art and the Public Domain 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 including a détournement of John Constable's Hay Wain called "Haywain with Cruise Missiles".

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 and is on public view as part of 2013's rehang "A Walk Through British Art".

Kennard originally trained as a painter at the Byam Shaw School of Art and the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London and later at the Royal College of Art, where he is now Senior Research Reader in Photography, Art, and the Public Domain.

Peter Kennard abandoned painting in the 1970s in search of new forms of expression that could bring art and politics together for a wider audience. This search has resulted in making photomontage and installation work over many years covering major political events. The visual language he has developed to the present day uses common news imagery, photojournalism and the face. He has often worked in collaboration with writers, photographers, filmmakers and artists such as Peter Reading, John Pilger and Jenny Matthews.

"Dispatches from An Unofficial War Artist" is his autobiography and was published in 2000. In it, Kennard writes about the possibilities of undertaking an aesthetic practice in relation to social change, and considers how his art has interacted with the politics of actual events. The narrative is thematic rather than chronological, showing how a visual motif can be re-used in different contexts. Kennard's original artwork is often reproduced alongside the newspaper or poster in which it appeared.

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Wikipedia