"Our installations resonate deeply and often evoke powerful emotions" Poignant life-size silhouettes for the 1,475 servicemen who died on D-Day go on display
Life-size silhouettes representing the 1,475 servicemen under British Command who gave their lives on D-Day will be coming home to Portsmouth, 81 years after troops set sail from the city.
Royal Armouries Fort Nelson, overlooking Portsmouth will be a fitting location for the D-Day art installation, created by Standing with Giants, and will be on display from October 22. The tribute also features 50 French resistance silhouettes.
Royal Armouries stepped in to host the “For Your Tomorrow” tribute at short notice, following a nation-wide appeal for a new venue, after plans fell through at another site, to ensure it will be on display for Remembrance Day, 80 years after the Second World War ended.
The installation has recently been on show at the British Normandy Memorial in France and its return to Portsmouth will be a symbolic homecoming for those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
To make sure the display free for as many people as possible to see it, the Royal Armouries has launched a fundraising campaign, donations can be made at www.royalarmouries.org/fort-nelson. The tribute will be open to visitors from October 22 to November 30.
The installation is particularly pertinent to the Portsmouth area, which played such a significant role in the D-Day Operation, and will offer people the opportunity to pay their respects to those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
More than 200,000 visitors saw the installation in Normandy this year, but this will be the first time the D-Day tribute has been on display in the south of England, having previously been in Buckinghamshire.
Standing with Giants is a charity, founded and led by Oxfordshire community artist Dan Barton. They create large-scale remembrance art installations using recycled building materials where possible and provide meaningful spaces for people to visit and reflect.
Standing with Giants is based on an ethos 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 with the freedom we have today.
Nat Edwards, Master & Director General of Royal Armouries, said: “For many servicemen, the monument at Fort Nelson was the very last thing they could see on British soil as they set out, 81 years ago, to liberate Europe.
“I can’t think of a more fitting place to remember the 1,475 who never returned and the enormous debt that the free world owes them. We are honoured to host this very fitting and beautiful display to their sacrifice.
“To enable us to put on this installation for free, we are asking for donations towards the cost of hosting the installation, so please do give what you can, and come and visit and pay your respects to those we lost during the conflict whilst serving their country.”
Dan Barton, Founder and Chair of Trustees of Standing with Giants, said: “We have been overwhelmed by the amazing reactions from veterans and families of the fallen who have visited our installations.
“We are so thankful to Fort Nelson for stepping in to host the People’s Tribute, so it can be on display on the 80 th anniversary of the end of the Second World War and Portsmouth is such a fitting place for it to be on display.
“We invite people to visit, grieve, remember, and reflect. Our installations resonate deeply and often evoke powerful emotions. It’s a way of remembering and paying tribute to those who have fallen, so we can live the lives we have today.”
Fort Nelson previously hosted a Standing with Giants art installation which paid tribute to those lives lost in the Falklands (see the video embedded in this story) and a D-Day exhibition is also currently on site.
Due to limited site capacity, visitors are encouraged to pre-book their visit at www.royalarmouries.org to guarantee entry. Tickets will go online in October and donations are welcome and appreciated to support the museum.
Fort Nelson is open Tuesday to Sunday 10am – 4pm during termtime and daily during school holidays.