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@freddybaumer / freddybaumer.tumblr.com

kind of a 1917 blog but also a WWI blog | follow/interact from megsis
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Reblogged my-darling-boy
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@bobbole’s amazing “You Don’t Remember the Somme?” art reminded me of Jeremy Deller’s art “We’re Here Because We’re Here” which I actually had the privilege of stumbling across in person when I was in Manchester in July 2016.

It’s Remembrance Weekend here so I thought I’d go down memory lane a little... (none of the photos are mine btw)

The ‘art’ included about 1,600 male volunteers, all dressed in the uniforms worn by the British army in the First World War. Each man represented a named individual who had been killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme (1st July 1916). When approached by the public, the men would hand out a card bearing the name, battalion and, often, the age of the man they represented. In Deller’s words, these cards were “like small tombstones”.

Every so often, the men would sing “We’re Here Because We’re Here” which was put to the tune of Auld Lang Syne.

I still get chills just remembering.

#not really 1917#but holy shit this is so impactful#rb
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