London: Steve McQueen portrays third graders

One grins, another does not look at the camera, one lies in front of the others on the ground and grimaces. Class photos are snapshots - and many years later, they evoke memories of annoying classroom teachers or old classmates.

British artist and filmmaker Steve McQueen ("12 Years a Slave") has created an exhibit on such school pictures: For the "Year 3" project, photographers shot more than 3,000 class photos of third graders across London - in over 1,500 state-run, religious or independent schools. Even students who are taught at home, can be seen in the pictures.

McQueen's aim is to promote "aesthetic education in schools" and to ensure that diversity is more prevalent in artistic institutions. "I remember being in the National Portrait Gallery, and the only blacks I saw were the security forces," McQueen told the Guardian.

"The art school was my liberation, where I could achieve my goals and realize myself," the artist is quoted. "Every child should have this opportunity." The photos are currently exhibited at London's Tate Britain Art Museum - and are also hanging on city walls or in the subway throughout the city.

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In the next 20 weeks, all photographed classes will now have the opportunity to look at their pictures in the Kunstmuseum - and thus gain access to art, regardless of their family or social background. That's the wish of Steve McQueen. As the "Guardian" reports, the artist wants to turn to every class - by video.

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In addition, the children at the museum can admire Steve McQueen's old class photo from a school in London's West: It's the year 1977, he wears shirt and sweater - and grins hesitantly.

According to the Guardian, it took a year to scan more than 76,000 students. Because: All parents should have given their consent. In addition, before the photo session around 90-minute workshops were held, in which the children discussed issues such as this: What is it like to be seven years old and to grow up in London? Where is the "Tate Britain"? And what is a work of art?

"It was about responsibility: Who do you want to become? What do you want to contribute to this city later?", Said Steve Moffitt of the involved educational initiative "A New Direction" the Deutschlandfunk. Many of the children have never been in a gallery before.