Mark Wallinger has recreated peace campaigner Brian Haw’s Parliament Square protest for a dramatic new installation at Tate Britain. Running along the full length of the Duveen Galleries, State Britain consists of a meticulous reconstruction of over 600 weather-beaten banners, photographs, peace flags and messages from well-wishers that have been amassed by Haw over the past five years.
Faithful in every detail, each section of Brian Haw’s peace camp from the makeshift tarpaulin shelter and tea-making area to the profusion of hand-painted placards and teddy bears wearing peace-slogan t-shirts has been painstakingly sourced and replicated for the display.

Brian Haw began his protest against the economic sanction in Iraq in June 2001, and has remained opposite the Palace of Westminster ever since. On 23 May 2006, following the passing by Parliament of the ‘Serious Organised Crime and Police Act’ prohibiting unauthorised demonstrations within a one kilometre radius of Parliament Square, the majority of Haw’s protest was removed. Taken literally, the edge of this exclusion zone bisects Tate Britain. Wallinger has marked a line on the floor of the galleries throughout the building, positioning State Britain half inside and half outside the border.
In bringing a reconstruction of Haw’s protest before curtailment back into the public domain, Wallinger raises challenging questions about issues of freedom of expression and the erosion of civil liberties in Britain today.


Copyright Credits

Banksy
Birmingham Post
Caduceus Journal (01730 816 799, www.caduceus.info)
Campaign against Climate Change
Jerome Delay/AP/EMPICS
Kay Fernandes
Global Women’s Strike
Independent News and Media
Iraq Peace Team/Voices for Creative Non-violence
Masako Ito
Kevin Jack
With courtesy of Abby Jackson, licensed by DACS 2006
Leon Kuhn
Mohammed Daud Maraki
Mear One
Metro Newspaper
Mirrorpix
Takashi Morizumi
Muslim Association of Britain
John Pilger/Radio Times
Toshio Takazaka
Telegraph Group, 2001
Worcestershire Weekender
Micah Ian Wright