An amazing and moving feat, representing the 9,000 who perished at the Normandy beaches on D-Day.
A pair of British artists have created this stunning installation of 9,000 silhouettes on a D-Day Landings beach to mark international Peace Day.
The project, named, ‘The Fallen’ is a tribute to the civilians, German forces and Allies who lost their lives during the Operation Neptune landing on June 6, 1944.
The design was the brainchild of Jamie Wardley, 33, and Andy Moss, 50. Together with a team of volunteers the pair travelled to Arromanches beach, Normandy, to create the silhouettes, which were individually drawn into the sand.
Those taking part made the shape of a person by putting down a stencil and raking the surface to create a distinctive figure.
The shapes were then left to the mercy of the tide which washed away the ‘fallen’ after around four and a half hours.
Speaking of the idea behind the project Wardley said: ‘The Fallen is a sobering reminder of what happens when peace is not present.
‘The idea is to create a visual representation of what is otherwise unimaginable, the thousands of human lives lost during the hours of the tide during the Second World War Normandy landings.
‘People understand that so many lives were lost that day but it’s incredibly difficult to picture that number.
Another remembrance of WWII horrors. A black German woman who was raised in a foster home discovered by accident at age 38 that her grandfather was the kommandant of the concentration camp Plaszow. That’s the camp that Schindler saved Jews from.
http://www.dw.de/my-grandfather-would-have-shot-me/a-17109468
Alain, that’s a really interesting article. That woman is really beautiful…
As for this work of art: I love it. I love its simplicity and visual effectiveness and message. I bet if you’re there it’s a very moving, sobering and saddening experience.
It occurred to me that something like this could be done in small format, digitally…But the way it’s been done, with human labor, raking the sand over the very location where our soldiers died, to scale, is brilliant and touching.