Natalia Lamanova is a Moscow-based artist who works both in graphic and digital media. Stamps are central to her work. She is a leading exponent of mail art ( in which the postal system is used as media) and has produced numerous decorative compositions in a philatelic format, including this work, entitled "War Card". The sheet follows a traditional format. It comprises a small sheet of stamps, repeating the same images, and included the perforations that are required to separate the stamps from each other and the selvedge that marks the edge of the sheet. However, as in so many of the 'stamps' produced by herself and her partner, Alexander Kholopov, the work focuses on a portrait. This one appears to be of Kholopov, both as a grown man and a child .The image may have been made from an identity card used while he was serving in the armed forces; it also contains images of fingerprints and missiles. In any event, reflecting back on the man's childhood and with the air of the portrait medallion medal, sometimes awarded posthumously, it has overtones both of the fragility of life and of military oppression.