PETER KENNARD, ORIGINAL ART ACTIVIST

There's an awful lot of street and urban artists that owe this chap a massive debt of gratitude. The UK's original art activist, more punk than you punk, more street than the Streets and "keeping it real" long before we had the option.

Shocking, haunting and unsettling, the photomontages of Peter Kennard live long in the memory. For the past four decades Peter Kennard has consistently challenged power structures and injustice, from his anti-nuclear works of the 1980s for CND to the powerful images he created in response to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Here, Kennard gives TateShots a tour of his studio in Hackney, London in anticipation of the release of his upcoming book, @earth.

"I take my hat off to you Sir, @earth looks great" - Banksy

"What you hold in your hands is a harrowing X-ray of the shadow side of the world ... If there's a word that's worth a thousand pictures, itÕs @earth. " - Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine and No Logo

@earth is as revolutionary in form as it is in content. It is a story without words told in the universal language of photomontage, long the favoured medium of radical artists. For the past four decades Peter Kennard has consistently challenged power structures and injustice, from his anti-nuclear works of the 1980s to the powerful images he created in response to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

@earth is a photo-essay in seven chapters, combining new works, made together with Tarek Salhany, with iconic images from throughout Kennard's 40-year career.

Shocking, haunting and unsettling, @earth makes a powerful statement about the current eco-crisis, the arms race and the injustices dominating today's world.

Peter Kennard was born in London in 1949. He is senior tutor in photography at the Royal College of Art and his work is in many major collections, including Tate, the V&A and the Imperial War Museum. His work has been published in numerous publications including The Guardian, The Observer, Sunday Times, The Telegraph, The Independent, The Scotsman, New Statesman and Time Magazine.

176 x 125 mm, 192 pp,
colour illustrations throughout
Hardback PLC with exposed greyboards


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