Chris Ofili's Requiem

There is a stunning mural at Tate Britain's North Staircase created by Chris Ofili. "Requiem"pays tribute to Khadija Saye and remembers the tragedy of the Grenfell Tower Fire.

We are told that Chris Ofili met Saye in 2017 when they were both exhibiting at the Venice Biennial. Just a month later, on 14 June, she died in the Grenfell Tower fire. She had lived and worked on the 20th floor of the Tower. The fire killed 72 people including 18 children. It was the greatest loss of life in a residential fire since WW2.

The public inquiry found that the tower's exterior cladding failed to meet safety standards, enabling the fire to spread more quickly and leading to many avoidable deaths.

In Ofili's mural, the bowing figure presents the burning tower to us in a ceremonial manner. His tears falling into an ocean of despair. Our collective grief.

Ofili depicts Saye at the centre of an energy force holding a Gambian incense pot (an "anichurai") to her ear, in reference to one of her own artworks. The pot belonged to her mother and symbolises the possibility of transformation through faith.

To the right of Saye, Ofili depicts two mythical beings playing instruments. The idea being that the spirit of the souls are drawn to this place of peace.

It is a really beautiful, thought provoking artwork.

Once you reach the top of the stairs turn into the rooms to your right and you will see some tender watercolours and sketches by Ofili. They are so different to the works he was famous for like The Adoration of Captain Shit which he created using resin, glitter, collage and elephant dung.

The painting above entitled "Night with a Satyr (2)" was my favourite. A faun is suspended by a multicoloured waterfall and pearls of light spread towards a nymph who floats towards him in a dreamlike state. Her arms resembling a swans neck.

I also loved "Study for Afronirvana". I was struck by the intimacy between the couple as their children play in the distance under a dazzling star. All beautifully encircled by trees and blooms. In the final painting Ofili uses the Pan African tricolours: red (for the blood that unites people of Black African Ancestry), green (for African land) and black (for melanated skin).

Arguably one of his most famous artworks, "No Woman, No Cry", is also on display in the main collection. This was Ofili's tribute to Stephen Lawrence who was murdered in a racially motivated attack in 1993. It depicts his mother Doreen and as you will see from the detail image above, in each of her tears is an image of her son's face. Doreen Lawrence campaigned for a public inquiry the findings of which being the the Metropolitan police was institutionally racist.

All of the artworks are free to see at Tate Britain now.