Abstract
ABSTRACT War commemoration in the UK has become spectacular, performative, and mediatised, manifesting new scales of visual power. This article assesses this ‘visual turn’ via an analysis of Blood Swept Lands & Seas of Red (BSL&SR) – an installation of 888,246 ceramic poppies, each representing a British and Colonial service fatality of the First World War, ‘planted’ in the Tower of London’s moat to mark the First World War Centenary (FWWC). Celebrated as a major success by FWWC officials, and attracting extraordinary public acclaim, academic analyses found that BSL&SR encouraged ‘unthinking’ re-circulation of ‘tropes’ about the war, which inhibited pluralism and critical consideration of the UK’s history of armed intervention. This article traces and explores the range, diversity, and nuances of ‘everyday’ public responses to the installation, drawing on a wealth of new information accessed through embedded research within Historic Royal Palaces (HRP). In doing so, it prompts reflection and debate about future state-supported cultural programmes and the role of heritage therein.
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