This screen print on copper sheet, depicting a corpse in uniform, wearing sash with honours, forms part of the series 'An Affair of Honour', commissioned as part of New Visions in 2001.
Working primarily with photography and innovative printing techniques Faisal Abdu-allah’s work 'An Affair of Honour' series looks particularly at black cultural identity. The commissioned work was the result of several month’s research into the National Maritime Museum's collection and took the form of photographs screen-printed onto large copper sheets, a technique he developed himself. The artist looked at historical images of great maritime figures, and recreated them using his friends as sitters. By recreating the kind of scenes depicted in portraits from the Museum's collection, Abdu'allah created a contemporary rereading of portraiture and history. This work specifically refers to refers to the time when the Great Hall of the Queen's House was used for the laying-in-state of military commanders.