Beyond the Deepening Shadow


Moving installation at the Tower of London to mark the century of the end of the First World War.

Created by Designer Tom Piper and sound artist Mira Calix it filled the moat of the Tower with flames which were started by one flame being lit by a Yeoman of the Guard and this being spread gradually throughout the space.

This was a beautiful spectacle but was very popular so the space was very crowded. I was meeting friends there and we just watched from the rim of the moat, once we had found each other! It’s strange to be directed in the opposite direction in which you want to go for crowd control reasons. I never worked out what people were queuing up for. I know before the event you could get tickets to go into the moat but not sure this is what people were queuing for as there didn’t seem to be many people down there.

I got a good view from near the entrance to the Tower by standing in tip toe and peering over people’s heads but a much better one from the road to Tower Bridge although this involved balancing on a small parapet! From my two viewpoints I couldn’t hear the sound installation which accompanied the flames.

It was a lovely idea to have other iconic work at the Tower to mark the end of the centenary of the First World War as the ceramic poppies had proved such a public hit at the start of the celebrations.

Closed on 11 November 2018

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