Last year two British artists created a project named “The Fallen” as a tribute to the people who lost their lives during Operation Neptune on June 6, 1944. The piece featured 9,000 silhouettes on a D-Day landing beach in Normandy.
The artists names are Jamie Wardley, and Andy Moss, who together, along with a team of volunteers created the silhouettes all over the sands of the shore. According to the Daily Mail, this effort was, “a tribute to the civilians, German forces and Allies who lost their lives during the Operation Neptune landing on June 6, 1944.”
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.
Take a look at their work:
While some people find this to be a wonderful display, others might find it to be misguided due to the subtle moral equivalence underlying in the message of the art. The artists clearly wanted the figures etched in sand to represent ALL who died, including allied, French civilians and Germans. Should they all be considered equally and thus, remembered equally?
Comment below with your thoughts.