Pictures of Verdun by the British photographer Michael St Maur Sheil are featured at a Franco-German exhibition in Berlin marking the centenary of the 1916 battle.
They’re drawn from Fields of Battle Lands of Peace, Mike Sheil’s touring project capturing the landscapes of the Great War as they appear today.
The Berlin exhibition, at the Institute Français in the Kurfürstendamm, accompanies an event in the heart of Paris. The pictures are an extract of Sheil’s work showing on the Champs Elysées until April.
In the midst of commemorations remembering the 300-day Battle of Verdun, this is a poignant moment for the photographer.
Mike Sheil says: “The theme of Fields of Battle Lands of Peace was always about reconciliation as shown by the ability of time and nature to heal the wounds of war by turning places of death and horror into landscapes of tranquillity and great beauty.
“This is probably the first Franco-German exhibition of this nature and I feel that for the work of a British based photographer to be used to present such an emotive issue as the Battle of Verdun in Germany is really a representation of practical reconciliation.”
The exhibition, ‘Verdun-Berlin Un Siècle pour La Paix-Der lange Weg zum Frieden 1916-2016’, runs at the Institut Français, Kurfürstendamm 211, Berlin until March 31st 2016.
Also in Centenary News:
‘Fields of Battle Lands of Peace’ returns to London in June 2016 for Somme Centenary exhibition.
Information & images supplied by Michael St Maur Sheil