Photographer Michael St Maur Sheil will be talking about his First World War exhibition, Fields of Battle Lands of Peace 14-18, at Stowe School, near Buckingham in the UK, on Tuesday May 12th 2015.
Mike Sheil spent eight years documenting the battlefields as they are today, travelling not only to the familiar memorials of the Western Front but also to the lesser-known fronts of the Middle East and Africa.
He conceived the outdoor photographic exhibition after a chance meeting with the late Richard Holmes, the military historian, broadcaster and expert on the First World War.
The result, as Centenary News can testify after viewing the exhibition in London, is a series of hauntingly beautiful landscapes inspiring reflection on the events of 100 years ago.
The collection of battlefield scenes enjoyed prominence at commemorations in 2014 marking the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the war.
Mike Sheil was the first artist from the British Isles invited to hold an exhibition on the railings of the Palais du Luxemboug, seat of the French Senate in Paris.
His exhibition was launched in the UK by the Duke of Kent at St. James’s Park, London, in August, within sight of the windows from where the Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey, famously remarked that ‘the lights were going out all over Europe’ as the great powers declared war in 1914.
The aim is to bring the Centenary directly to millions of people with a touring exhibition running until Armistice Day 2018.
For booking details, visit the Arts at Stowe website.
Source: Arts at Stowe
Images: Centenary News
Posted by Peter Alhadeff, Centenary News