Political Montage

Observations into the work of Peter Kennard

The recent direction of my own work has prompted greater awareness of artists who’s work speaks with a political voice. Having been aware of Kennards work with CND and his associated work, my tutor pointed me in the direction of his use of newspapers as a symbol of power, as this is an area I had been working within the Body of Work .

Kennards work is very much about his expression of anger within the realms of International inequality and political power. The montages are fairly hard hitting and don’t compromise the feelings towards what Kennard sees as guilty party’s. The connections stand out forcibly with little room for ambiguity. His approach provides a level of visual directness that ignores any softening for public consumption.

The art of Photo montage could be seen as a way of joining things that are more often viewed separately, and Kennard homes in on this skill to amplify the voice of what he believes people think outside of the mainstream media.

So much of Kennards work is about connections and placing aspects of political rationale side by side to visually force links of situations that are usually connected by language, power and other abstract senses.

Use of the Financial Times visual symbol resides with the significance of wealth and power in contrast to various transgressions this force has upon inequality and suffering. By using the FT as a backdrop and constructing socially engaged scenes, incidents and symbols in the foreground, the meaning does not pull any punches. The message is consistent and clear as a constructed form of representation.

By looking to see where my own work could benefit from Kennard’s influence, I would suggest that aesthetically, there are symbolic similarities, although I do try and maintain significant levels of reality. The construction of a photo montage lends itself to deliberately mess with reality and elevate dominant aspects that suit the context. However, the motivation behind the work is certainly an area that I can relate to and advance into my visual development. Kennard,s work comes across as bold, impactful and audacious. All attributes that I have felt should be suited to my own voice and undiluted into the visual language.