Steve McQueen at the Tate Modern: ‘I have no choice but to create’ – BBC Newsnight

Academy award and Turner Prize winning artist, Steve McQueen speaks to Emily Maitlis ahead of a retrospective of his work at the Tate Modern.
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From stamps depicting the Iraq war dead, to films on subjects as varied as the IRA hunger strikes, sex addiction and slavery the artist and film director Steve McQueen likes to tackle subjects that challenge his audiences.

His huge project photographing thousands of London schoolchildren is currently on display at Tate Britain, while a major retrospective of his work is about to open at Tate Modern.

Emily Maitlis went to meet him there and asked him whether he was motivated by a compulsion to create.

Newsnight is the BBC’s flagship news and current affairs TV programme – with analysis, debate, exclusives, and robust interviews.

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In This Story: Iraq

Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in Western Asia. The capital and largest city is Baghdad. Iraq is home to diverse ethnic groups including Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen, Assyrians, Yazidis, Shabakis, Armenians, Mandaeans, Circassians, Sabians and Kawliya. Around 99% of the country’s 38 million citizens are Muslims, with small minorities of Christians, Yarsans, Yezidis and Mandeans also present. The official languages of Iraq are Arabic and Kurdish.

Iraq has a coastline measuring 58 km (36 miles) on the northern Persian Gulf and encompasses the Mesopotamian Alluvial Plain, the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range and the eastern part of the Syrian Desert. Two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run south through Iraq and into the Shatt al-Arab near the Persian Gulf. These rivers provide Iraq with significant amounts of fertile land. The region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, historically known as Mesopotamia, is often referred to as the cradle of civilisation.

Iraq is a federal parliamentary republic consisting of 19 governorates, four of which make up the autonomous Kurdistan Region. Disputes over the sovereignty of Kurdistan Region continue.

Iraq is a founding member of the UN as well as of the Arab League, OIC, Non-Aligned Movement and the IMF.

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