Image: For Your Tomorrow Stowe Gardens © National Trust / Hugh Mothersole
The 30 tonne outdoor artwork represents each of the servicemen killed on D-Day under British Command.
A memorial artwork representing each of the servicemen killed on D-Day under British Command has gone on display at Stowe Gardens, a grade I listed country house in Buckinghamshire.
Seen in full in the country for the first time, the memorial artwork consists of 1,475 life-sized silhouettes. The full installation weighs in excess of 30 tonnes and has taken two weeks to install in the Grecian Valley with the help of more than 200 volunteers.
‘For Your Tomorrow – the People’s Tribute’, was created by community artist Dan Barton, and constructed by volunteers Oxfordshire-based community charity Standing with Giants from recycled materials.
The installation commemorates the soldiers, sailors and airmen under British Command killed in the D-Day landing 80 years ago on 6 June 1944. Also included are silhouettes of nurses Sister Mollie Evershed and Sister Dorothy Field,the only two women commemorated on the British Normandy Memorial.
There are also 50 French resistance fighter silhouettes placed in the woodland alongside the footpath that circles the valley.
Artist Dan Barton said: “Our ethos at Standing with Giants is to value life; to understand and appreciate why we have our freedom, and to remember and pay tribute to those who have fallen so we can live the lives we have today. Using outdoor large-scale remembrance art is a great way to do this.”
Tanya Brittain, General Manager of the National Trust gardens at Stowe Gardens says, “It’s an honour to be chosen as the UK location for this memorial exhibition, For Your Tomorrow – the People’s Tribute.
The installation at Stowe Gardens can be viewed until 11 November 2024.
