Peter Kennard's archive of dissent goes on show at the Whitechapel Gallery

Peter Kennard unites five decades of work for ‘Archive of Dissent’ in the former Whitechapel Library space

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Artwork from Peter Kennard's ‘Archive of Dissent’ Whitechapel show, featuring skull with a Margaret Thatcher mask
Peter Kennard, Thatcher Unmasked, 1986
(Image credit: A/POLITICAL collection, courtesy of the artist)

The power of the image has long held a particular resonance for Peter Kennard, artist and Emeritus Professor of Political Art at the Royal College of Art, whose current exhibition at London’s Whitechapel Gallery is both a tribute to and a warning of the influence of information.

people around a poker table with rockets on

Peter Kennard, The Gamble, 1986

(Image credit: A/POLITICAL collection, courtesy of the artist)

‘Archive of Dissent’ exhibits Kennard’s body of work in the former Whitechapel Library space, a fitting location for his archive format. Uniting photomontages, installations and the newspapers where his images first appeared, the exhibition pays tribute to the space’s original purpose, once known as the ‘People’s University of the East End’ and used as both a refuge from poverty and a place to nurture radical philosophies around art and politics.

skull reading magazine

Peter Kennard, Protest and Survive, 1980

(Image credit: Courtesy of the artist. Tate: purchased from the artist 2007)

Over his five decade career, Kennard has been absorbed with exposing the links between financial profit and war, over the years responding to the Vietnam War, the Anti-Apartheid Movement and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), through to the present day wars in Gaza and Ukraine. He returns, frequently, to the collage method as a means of removing what he refers to as the ‘mask’ of misinformation, inspired by John Heartfield’s introduction in the 1930s of montage as a political tool. By juxtaposing the tragic images we have grown accustomed to seeing daily, Kennard reveals the horror of acceptance.

Peter Kennard's 'Archive of Dissent' is at the Whitechapel Gallery, London, until 19 January 2025

whitechapelgallery.org

mask with american and british flags

Peter Kennard, Union Mask, 2007

(Image credit: Courtesy of the artist)
Hannah Silver
Hannah Silver

Hannah Silver is a writer and editor with over 20 years of experience in journalism, spanning national newspapers and independent magazines. Currently Art, Culture, Watches & Jewellery Editor of Wallpaper*, she has overseen offbeat art trends and conducted in-depth profiles for print and digital, as well as writing and commissioning extensively across the worlds of culture and luxury since joining in 2019.