I realise that this post is later than it should have been, but I would be delinquent if I did not note this extraordinary event. A few years ago, on a dismal and gusty day somehow appropriate for the location, I visited the Normandy town of Arromanches, whose beach, on the 6th June, 1944, was a focus for the D-Day landings.
At Arromanches last month, to mark International Peace Day, artists Andy Moss and Jamie Wardley of Sand in your eye, turned into a very moving reality their extraordinary concept of the ‘Fallen Project.’ “The objective was to make a visual representation of 9000 people drawn in the sand which equates the number of Civilians, Germans Forces and Allies that died during the D-day landings, 6th June during WWII as an example of what happens in the absence of peace. . . . On the day we had 60-70 confirmed volunteers that had travelled from around the world to help. We knew that this was not enough to complete the project in the 4.5 hours that we had so at 3pm when we were about to begin we were overwhelmed by the hundreds of people that turned up to help. . . . [and] took stencils and rakes in hand and embarked on drawing the 9000”
Inevitably, but poignantly, the tide later removed all traces.
The website for the project has more information and images, and there is a time-lapse video on the BBC report of the event.
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