| @earth | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Peter Kennard assisted by Tarek Salhany |
| Country | UK |
| Language | visual, non-verbal |
| Subject(s) | politics, climate change, human rights, economics |
| Genre(s) | art, non-fiction |
| Publisher | Tate Publishing |
| Publication date | 1 May 2011 |
| Media type | Hardback PLC with exposed greyboards B6 pocketbook: 176 x 125mm |
| Pages | 192 pages in colour and black and white |
| ISBN | 978 1 85437 984 9 |
@earth is a 2011 book made by London born (and based) photomontage artist Peter Kennard with Lebanese artist Tarek Salhany. It is a photo-essay told through photomontage with seven chapters exposing the current state of the earth, the conditions of life on it and the need to resist injustice.[1] It was released on 1 May 2011 by Tate Publishing.
Apart from the title @earth (which is also in different languages on its back cover) the pocket book contains no words and its story is told in sequences of constructed images.[2]
@earth combines images created digitally over the past two years by Kennard with Salhany[3] especially for the project, with Kennard's earlier darkroom based photomontages (spanning over 40 years of work) some of which are part of the Tate Permanent Collection.[4] They have been recontextualised for the book.[5][6] Authors met whilst Kennard taught Salhany at the Byam Shaw School of Art in London.[7]
@earth has received recognition from, amongst others, Naomi Klein (author of No Logo and The Shock Doctrine) who has said: "This book perfectly captures the brutal asymmetries of our age: heavy weaponry trained on broken people, all-seeing technologies and disappearing identities, perpetually exhaling industry and an asphyxiating planet. If there's a word that's worth a thousand pictures, it's @earth."[8]
@earth was launched during a 3-day event called shooting@earth at Black Rat Projects in London, together with a display of artworks by War Boutique. The centrepiece was a paintball shooting gallery where visitors could fire at silhouetted figures of city bankers.[9] Starting concurrently an exhibition of works from the book was held at Raven Row, London.[10] The exhibition included prints of the digital works pasted on the gallery walls by dr.d as well as Kennard's earlier montages[11][12]