Political Photography

Peter Kennard

He has been recognised as "one of the very few artists - the only one it might be said - who has had a direct effect on recent British politics". This set of work has been made during the invasion and occupation of Iraq from 2003 to the present. For 'Decoration' Kennard has combined the use of digital printing techniques with oil paint to make images that break up and are torn apart in front of our eyes. Decoration juxtaposes notions of military commemoration with the real victims of the war. The images themselves are war medals, but which are twisted and contrary to the notion of the medal as a military commemoration. Expanding on a visual metaphor first seen in the late 1980s, Kennard's medals are distortions. In place of the shiny metal medallion is a face, bandaged, battered. These faces truly are innocent victims, the men, women and children caught in the (friendly) crossfire.
The images below are more of his political photograph's