When you receive something in the mail, would you want the visage of a soldier who perished in the Iraq war staring up at you from the stamp? This is the aim of official War artist Steve McQueen. In Edinburgh, the National Gallery of Modern Art has recently opened an exhibition by McQueen commemorating one hundred and thirty six soldiers who have perished in the Iraq War. The faces of these soldiers have each been printed repeatedly on a large grid of stamps and placed in vertical glass display drawers inside a large oak cabinet. Each of the photographs were donated by the next of kin of the lost soldiers. The exhibition was commissioned by the Imperial War Museum and is now the official portrait of the conflict. McQueen is in talks to have the stamps officially commisioned but has faced opposition.
Steve McQueen standing aside his exhibition.
Controversy
Is this an effective way to commemorate the fallen soldiers? Perhaps, most arguable is the title, ‘For Queen and Country‘. Owing to the controversy surrounding the War and the questionable honour some people feel there is in it, the statement the title makes may not garner the right meaning. Not all the families McQueen approached donated a photograph, perhaps because it is too painful or perhaps because they felt their sons died in vain. Some may feel that less of a traditional memorial should be made which leaves behind the pomp and standard of the military. A viewer of the exhibition was particularly forthright in their views: ‘I do believe that it might be cathartic for the families but I think it might have been more suitable to call it, ‘For Oil and Country’. Most telling is the opposition McQueen faced from the Ministry of Defense, who took two years to agree to McQueen’s idea. They asked why he could not just do, ‘a landscape instead’. The artist, whose usual medium is film fervently wants the stamps to be made into real stamps but this has been declined by Royal Mail chairman, Allan Leighton.
Pride
‘Stop the War Campaign‘ charity secretary, Peter Cannel had this to say,
There would be a few, but I don’t believe many of the families would take offence to the title or the exhibition. I think it is quite remarkable the way in which they are proud of their sons joining the army but at the same time, very critical of the government. The soldiers are still proud to be in the army but I think they are deeply unhappy about the way that pride has been used.
One of the stamps, Marine Christopher Maddison, Royal Marines. Died 30 March 2003.
The artist himself said,
‘The images make it neither pro nor anti-war. To those against, they are victims. To those in favour, they laid down their life in a just cause. This exhibition is about people, not politics’
A parent of one of the men depicted in the exhibition is Rose Gentle whose son perished when his truck was hit by a roadside bomb. Gentle has become a fierce campaigner against the war. Her son died due to the lack of an electronic scrambler which should have been fitted to the truck and would have stopped the bomb from going off. Even with the rage and disillusionment which must result from a tragic experience like this, Rose is an admirer of McQueen’s work. She said,
I think Steve has done an excellent job. The boys who have passed away would be very proud of the work, it is very moving. With regards to the title, whereas I do not, I think a lot of the families still believe in that so it shouldn’t be an issue in this case. I chose for my son to be depicted too.
Rose Gentle carrying Poppy wreath along Whitehall to the Cenotaph on Remembrance Day.
Never forgotton
Although McQueen has come up against opposition from some official camps, the public and the families touched by the tragedy have generally been moved by the exhibition. Certainly turning these images into official stamps would be a way of etching these faces into our memory and never forgetting their sacrifice. Perhaps this is what made the Ministry of Defence so uncomfortable.
