LONDON: An art installation which recreates some 600 banners and placards from an anti-Iraq war demonstration outside Britain's parliament was shortlisted for the nation's top modern art prize on Tuesday.
Mark Wallinger's 'State Britain', a replica of the London peace camp which demonstrator Brian Haw has manned non-stop since 2001, is among the contenders for the Turner Prize, whose previous winners include Damien Hirst.
His 2006 work, which also recreates the camp's tea-making area, complete with teddy bears wearing t-shirts with peace slogans, is currently on display at the Tate Britain gallery in London.
Unveiling the shortlist, one of the Turner Prize judges, art critic Michael Bracewell, said the work underlined "the loneliness of protest".
Haw was at first protesting against economic sanctions in Iraq but later switched his focus to the US-led and British-backed 2003 invasion.
Prime Minister Tony Blair's government passed legislation banning protests in the immediate vicinity of parliament in 2005 but, despite a series of legal battles, Haw's demonstration has not moved.
Other nominees for the prize, which is awarded in December, include Zarina Bhimji, for her photographs of Uganda, and Nathan Coley, who makes cardboard models of religious buildings.
Previous winners include Hirst, famed for preserving a shark in formaldehyde, and cross-dressing potter Grayson Perry.
