Steve McQueen at London Primary School. Courtesy of BBC London
Steve is an award-winning filmmaker
Steve loved drawing at school and believes that art can change people’s lives. When he was young he wanted to be a painter. However at Goldsmiths art school he started taking photographs and then making films. His work explores what it means to be human.
In 1999, when he was only 30 years old, he won the Turner Prize. This is the highest award given to a British artist. He also won an Oscar for his film 12 Years a Slave. It tells the true story of a man who was a slave in America.
Steve McQueen, Static, 2009 © Steve McQueen; Courtesy the artist, Thomas Dane Gallery and Marian Goodman Gallery, London
He was born in London
Steve McQueen's Year 3 class at Little Ealing Primary School, 1977
Every effort has been made to contact and gain approval from the individuals in this photograph. If you have any new information or are featured in this image, please contact pressoffice@tate.org.uk
Steve grew up in West London. You can see him in the picture above when he was in Year 3 at Little Ealing Primary School. Counting from the front, he is the fifth child on the left of the third row.
Steve thinks that every child should have the opportunity to study art and other creative subjects like music and drama. He believes that these subjects help you to learn to use your imagination and sometimes this can help us to come up with ideas to make the world a better place.
As a child, Steve loved football and played it regularly. He supported Tottenham Hotspur. Do you have a sports team that you support?
He made a new artwork with the help of London’s Year 3 classes
Photo © Tate
in 2018, Steve invited every year 3 class in all of London’s primary schools to have their photograph taken by a team of Tate photographers. He gathered thousands of photographs to make a massive artwork. He made a huge portrait of all the seven and eight year olds who in a few years’ time will shape the city they live in.
What do you think the future of your city will look like?
