Artist: Steve McQueen

Roger Bacon, the father of Major Mathew Bacon (not depicted) who was killed in Iraq in 2005 looks a piece of artwork entitled 'Queen and Country' at the National Portrait Gallery on March 18, 2010 in London, England.

This investigation has primarily been focused on artists who have tried to influence policy, public opinion or the government.  To bring some balance, it is worth looking at the opposite side of this.  There are numerous times when the “state” commissions artists to create work to support, promote and even carry out its intentions and purposes.  This is most evident in intentional propaganda but can be seen in other ways.  The British government commissions an artist for every war where there is British involvement. For the current war in Iraq the official war artist is Steve McQueen.  He is currently one of Britain’s foremost artists, including recently representing Britain in the 2009 Venice Bienale.  For the Iraq commission McQueen decided to move away from film as a medium.  He decided to make stamps using the faces of the soldiers who have been lost in the war.  He managed to gain full support from the soldiers' families and created the stamps with the aim to have them on sale for the public to use as legal stamps.  The government and Royal Mail have so far refused to make this happen.  It appears to be slightly ironic; the state commissioned an artist to give an official creative response to the war and then censored the artist's intentions to protect their own interests. There have been many forms of propaganda. Even the war images I looked at previously were used as propaganda by communist governments.  It is a huge subject in itself, which I will not fully engage with.