A PRESTIGIOUS art exhibition by a Turner prize-winning artist is to be held at Essex University.

Steve McQueen’s Queen and Country commemorates British servicemen and women killed in Iraq and will run at the university’s gallery from October 8 to November 14.

Taking the form of facsimile postage stamps featuring the faces of those who were killed in the conflict, the exhibition includes many who served from Colchester.

As such, the artwork is a collaboration with 155 families whose loved ones lost their lives. Each sheet features a photographic portrait chosen by their family.

The work includes the image of 23 year-old Lance Corporal Benjamin Hyde. He was in Iraq serving with the Colchester-based 156 Provost Company of the Royal Military Police when he was killed on June 24, 2003.

Benjamin was one of six Royal Military Police gunned down at a police station in the town of Al Majar al-kabir while training local officers.

Benjamin’s father, John Hyde said: “I think the concept of stamps is brilliant as they would be a permanent reminder and acknowledgement of the sacrifice they have made.

“The name of the work, Queen and Country, conjures up the feeling of pride that we feel for Ben and all the other servicemen and women.

“They were doing this job because they chose to do it and we, and all the families, are so proud of them.”

The Art Fund, the UK’s leading independent art charity, is touring the work to places with a link to the armed forces as part of its campaign to see the work issued as official stamps by Royal Mail.

Until the stamps are issued by Royal Mail, Steve McQueen has said he considers Queen and Country incomplete. The Art Fund is bringing the work to Colchester over the annual Remembrance period to gain public support. People who attend the gallery are being urged to sign the online petition www.artfund.org/ queenandcountry which so far has the support of more than 20,000 people.

As part of the exhibition, there will be a programme of talks.

This includes the role of war artists in the 21st century with war artists Paul Seawright and David Cotterell on October 26 at the Headgate Theatre, in Colchester.

There will also be a talk by Ulrike Smalley, curator at the Imperial War Museum, and artist Roddy Buchanan at the Ivor Crewe Lecture Theatre, at Essex University, on October 9.