Mick Hartley

With the Sarkozy-inspired burka discussion warming up – a letter from Taj Hargey in the Times yesterday, more letters today in response to Agnès Poirier's piece on Wednesday, and a robust editorial, "The burka, a symbol of repression, has no place in a free society" – I was surprised to come across it in, of all places, the National Portrait Gallery. 

The occasion was the 2009 BP Portrait Award. As usual it's an excellent show – and free! – even if there's nothing that stands out quite as last year's winner did (here's this year's winner). But, yes, there it was, buried away round a corner; "Fatema", a portrait of a woman wearing a niqab, with just the eyes visible. The artist – I forget her name – said that she was interested in painting a portrait where the face was partly covered. Well, I can understand that: you don't have to bother with all the fiddly bits around the nose and mouth. 

It was quite an effective picture, in fact. Not as a portrait of an individual, because of course you don't get any individuality dressed like that: which is, after all, the point. But it worked nicely as an indictment, whether or not that's what the artist intended. Mostly black, naturally, it emanated that slightly chilling aura that I always get when I see a veiled woman. The eyes were dead, expressionless. The caption described her merely as an "acquaintance" of the artist. It made a stunning contrast to the vibrant joyous celebration of the human face everywhere else in the exhibition.