In the 1980s, Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp became an international focus and inspiration for the anti-nuclear, peace and women's movements.


Janine Wiedel’s photographs and interviews made across 1983-84, juxtapose the overpowering military presence at the RAF base with an in depth look at the camp and some of the courageous and committed women who undertook non-violent direct action to resist, disrupt and end the deployment of US nuclear-armed cruise missiles.

While large actions drew in up to 50,000 people, a core group of women lived full-time in the camps around the nine-mile perimeter fence. Many had given up family life to live in the most basic conditions. They sustained a continuous presence over many years, facing constant surveillance, harassment, and arrest in order to bring public awareness to the threat posed by nuclear weapons.

BIO

Janine Wiedel is a New York born documentary photographer and visual anthropologist based in London since 1970.

Alongside freelance work, Wiedel has always continued to work on her own long-term social documentary projects concentrating on protest movements and sub-cultures struggling against pressures of mainstream society. Recent projects have included: the Rastafarian Community; a four-year documentation of St Agnes Place Squat; refugee camps in Northern France; and London’s multicultural communities.

In 2024 Bluecoat Press published her book “Vulcan’s Forge” on Industries of the West Midlands 1977-1979.
Her latest book ‘Life at the Fence, Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp 1983/84' will be published by Image & Reality in July 2025

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