Artist caught up in row over Foreign Office queen portrait speaks out

Larry Achiampong, whose ‘pan-African colours’ replaced picture of former monarch, calls angle of some media coverage deeply problematic The artist Larry Achiampong was in the middle of a karate class this weekend when he took a break, looked at his phone and realised he was embroiled in a brewing culture war. A series of news outlets reported that a portrait of the late Queen Elizabeth II taken by David Bailey had been “ditched” for work by Achiampong, Lubaina Himid and Yinka Shonibare, which took its place in the Foreign Office.