A PROCLAMATION (SILENCED)

© 2018, laser-etched Perspex 90 x 60cm
Exhibited: 2018, Didsbury Arts Festival, 2021 'War Works' Air Gallery

 

The plaque quotes King George V's proclamation of 1919, which called for two minutes of silence to be observed to remember those killed in the British forces during the First World War. This is followed by a number of quotes about other possible meanings of silence.
On the Morning of the first Two Minutes Silence, it was suggested by The Daily Herald newspaper (now The Sun), that the ritual silenced criticism of those in power who were responsible for the scale of the carnage.