Redcap honoured by Turner Prize artist (From The Northern Echo)

Redcap honoured by Turner Prize artist

8:17am Thursday 3rd January 2008 in

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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