Tony Blair As Baby Jesus

Tony Blair as the baby Jesus, photomontage 2003

This is one of my favourite blogs from 2010. I am pleased to publish it again today (with a few additional photographs).

In 2003 I held an exhibition which launched Photomonth for that year called Comrades. Hosted at the Four Corners gallery it took a satirical look at the Labour government of the day. This photomontage uses a Hungarian painting of the Virgin and Child with Tony Blair’s head.

Arrest of Tony Blair. Photomontage 2003.

This photomontage imagines Tony Blair as a peace protester being arrested close to the Houses of Parliament. I photographed the Labour  Party leadership extensively in the early 90’s for Labour Party news. The images I accrued through this work were the principle resource for the exhibition.

Tony Blair as Jesus. After Caravaggio 2003.

Here we  have the simple substitution of a Tony Blair head in Caravaggio’s masterpiece depicting the supper at Emmaus.

Torn fly poster with Brown, Blair and Cook, 2003

Tony Blair as the President of the United States, 2003.

Gordon Brown and Tony Blair on Brighton Pier, 2003

Tony Blair and John Prescott at a Labour Party conference, early 1990’s

Blair & Iraq. Collage, London 2008

Photomontage with a message and Tony Blair. Demonstration against the war, London 2003

The exhibition also included straight photographs of Labour politicians which were accompanied with quotes from the subjects.