2019 marked the 40th anniversary of the death of Blair Peach (25 March 1946 - 23 April 1979). Blair Peach was a young white New Zealander, a teacher, and a liberal.

He worked as a fireman and as a hospital orderly in New Zealand before moving to London in 1969. He taught at the Phoenix school in the London borough of Bow for children with additional needs and was an active member of the East London Teachers' Association, a branch of the National Union of Teachers.

On 23 april 1979, he was injured as he took part in an anti-fascist march in Southall, and he died the next day in Ealing hospital. 8000 sikhs visited the Dominion cinema, Southall (now demolished) to pay their last respects to Blair Peach on the eve of his funeral.

The Metropolitan Police identified the probable responsibility of one of their own officers in reports finally made available to the public on 27 April 2010.

Because of the controversy surrounding Blair Peach's death, his struggle against racism has never been properly commemorated. 3 Billboards for Blair Peach was intended by the artist as the simplest of memorials - naming Blair Peach publicly 40 years after he lost his life opposing racism.

Against a backdrop of rising populism, and revelations about the treatment of the UK's 'Windrush generation', 3 billboards for Blair Peach set out to commemorate a man who opposed racism even though he was not, himself, from an ethnic minority background.

The great American reformer, Dr Martin Luther King, counselled that equality was everyone's responsibility. He urged the civil rights movement to embrace its white 'brothers and sisters', encouraging them to march side by side in a joint struggle for equality.

The 3 billboards in the series include the text Protest Is Liberty's Ally, asserting the importance of demonstrations of solidarity. Vibrantly expressed dissent can be regarded as a measure of a society's health. When protests are crushed or disallowed, for example, everyone knows a society is in trouble.

The artist also quotes Clare Short, former Secretary of State for International Development in the text When the State Turns Violent People of Moral Conscience Find It Unbearable. This text both challenges police brutality and points to the power of non-violent resistance.

Ultimately, 3 Billboards for Blair Peach celebrates the fraternal feeling that can exist between people regardless of differences in skin colour or background.