The Art Fund approached and subsequently commissioned Online Solutions to design and develop a website that would allow the general public to sign an online petition to help Turner Prize winning artist Steve McQueen OBE complete the original vision of his work Queen and Country.
The Queen and Country is a unique and important work of art, in the highest tradition of war art commissions. The work takes the form of a stamp cabinet containing a series of facsimile postage sheets bearing multiple portrait heads, each one dedicated to a member of the British armed forces who has been killed in Iraq. Steve McQueen regards that his work will only be complete when Royal Mail agrees to issue the work as postage stamps.
Not wishing the website to be facile in any way on what is a very sensitive subject; the resulting website carefully explains the campaign and invokes browser curiosity through revealing the stamps by rolling over blank stamp templates bearing the Queen’s head. The site also features a Q and A with Steve McQueen where visitors can ask Steve about the project directly, his replies being published on the site and also a section with testimonials from the bereaved families.