I'd expected something bigger, to be honest. Something more elaborate perhaps. More 'significant'. But for all it's compact simplicity, Steve McQueen's Queen and Country is incredibly powerful. In 2003 McQueen was appointed by the Imperial War Museum as official war artist in Iraq. As a result of a six day visit when he witnessed first-hand the loyalty and dedication of the service forces, he returned with a bold proposal that the Royal Mail issue commemorative stamps featuring each of the servicemen and women killed in the conflict. Despite significant support from the public, the Royal Mail have yet to agree to this unique and poignant memorial.
I think my expectation of something bigger was influenced by Emily Prince's American Servicemen and Women Who Have Died in Iraq And Afghanistan (But Not Including the Wounded, nor the Iraqis nor the Afghans) which was arranged around the walls of Project Room of the Saatchi Gallery until earlier this month. Whereas her 5,213 drawings from photographs are arranged around the room, Queen and Country is contained within a wooden box with sliding panels. Each side of each panel represents a life lost. Anticipating the project being realised at some point in the future, McQueen presents the portrait of each soldier as a sheet of postage stamps, each stamp bearing the familiar silhouette of the monarch in whose name they fought and died.
It feels almost voyeuristic. The multiplication of each image gives the individual's portrait a greater intensity, and the viewer's physical action of drawing them out of the casing seems to heighten the sense of engagement and somehow makes a more personal connection.
But viewing the images is also random: people were picking different panels on either side of the box in no particular order or sequence, and for me that reflected the randomness of their deaths. The portrait above left is Private Craig Barber of the Royal Welsh. He died in Iraq on 6th August 2007 aged 20.
It feels almost voyeuristic. The multiplication of each image gives the individual's portrait a greater intensity, and the viewer's physical action of drawing them out of the casing seems to heighten the sense of engagement and somehow makes a more personal connection.But viewing the images is also random: people were picking different panels on either side of the box in no particular order or sequence, and for me that reflected the randomness of their deaths. The portrait above left is Private Craig Barber of the Royal Welsh. He died in Iraq on 6th August 2007 aged 20.
The installation contains 160 stamp-sheets commemorating 160 lives, each included with the permission and co-operation of their family. I came away not only reflecting on their experience and loss, but also curious as to why the Royal Mail is diffident about the project. Is it perhaps too personal? Too real? Or might it be thought by some to be too functional, too mundane? Whatever the reasoning and argument, Steve McQueen intends to go on updating the catalogue of young faces until the stamps are issued by the Royal Mail.
It is well worth a visit to the NPG. But in the meantime there is more information and a chance to add your name to the list of those who support McQueen's proposal at the ArtFund/Queen and Country website.