Redcap honoured by Turner Prize artist
 |
| IRAQ VICTIM: Lance Corporal Ben Hyde |
A TURNER Prize-winning artist
has created a poignant work of
art in honour of British troops
killed in Iraq.
Among the images featured in
Queen and Country, by Steve Mc-
Queen, is that of Lance Corporal
Ben Hyde, from Northallerton,
North Yorkshire.
The 23-year-old Royal Military
Police officer died at the hands
of an Iraqi mob in Al Majaar Al
Kabir, on June 24, 2003.
The artwork, which will continue
as a work in progress until
all troops are pulled out of Iraq,
takes the form of a series of
postage stamp sheets featuring
photographs of every man and
woman who has died in the conflict
so far.
Each stamp also bears the standard
profile of Her Majesty the
Queen in whose name they
fought.
Mr McQueen wants the stamps
to be issued by Royal Mail and a
petition has been set up by The
Arts Fund to encourage this.
The Imperial War Museum and
the Manchester International
Festival commissioned Mr Mc-
Queen to create a piece of art in
response to the conflict.
The artist collaborated with
the families of the dead men and
women and the families selected
the photographs that are reproduced
in the piece.
At the start of the project, 115
families were invited to take part.
A small number chose not to participate
and some could not be
contacted.
L Cpl Hyde's father, John, said:
"Straight away I thought it was a
good idea. I think it is fantastic, I
really do. My feelings are that
there isn't enough done, not just
for the lads that have been killed
in Iraq and Afghanistan, but for
the lads and lasses that are out
there now."
Mr Hyde said he did not think
that people in Britain understood
what the Armed Forces go
through on their behalf and that
anything that raised awareness
was a good thing.
"To actually go and see the project
itself is quite something," he
said. "I have seen it twice. Once
at the Manchester Central Library
and once during Remembrance
weekend at the Imperial
War Museum.
"It's quite moving. It's something
Ben would have been impressed
with. To think that eventually
his face might appear in
just about every home in the
country is something we cannot
really comprehend.
"You start thinking about it
and realise how big it is. It makes
you quite proud."
Queen and Country was first
shown during the Manchester International
Festival last year.
The work was produced with the
support of Thomas Dane Gallery,
London.
The Art Fund's petition can be
found at www.artfund.org
8:17am Thursday 3rd January 2008
Print 
Email this 
Comment
What are these links for?
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
More on Digg
More on del.icio.us
More on Furl
More on reddit
More on NowPublic/
More on Yahoo!
