
Simon Page

'In Memorium' an installation for the Fallen, Harrow School
A light and sound installation to honour the Fallen of WWI - Harrow School War Memorial
The concept for the work is to make more physical each and every one of the Fallen, by having 642 steel stands with a single lamp on top. The heights of the stand are to be varying from 1.6m - 1.9m, to give a better sense of the individual's body.
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The installation is to be set-up to run from November 1st through to November 11th. Over the 11 days approximately 60 lamps go out through each day between 6am and 10.30pm. The lamps, at candle strength, extinguish slowly, dimming to nothing over a period of 30 minutes. At the point just before the lamp finally goes out, a text, taken from Harrow’s Memorial Book (the written accounts commemorating the lives of each of the 642 Fallen), describing the death of each of the Fallen is heard over a sound system. The recordings are made by representatives from each area of the Harrow community: boys in the school, Old Harrovians, parents, governors, staff, local community.
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By the time 11-11-11 comes along there are only a few lights remaining on, which goes down to just one light at 11am which dims to nothing through the two-minute silence.
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At the evening service on 11-11, on the War Memorial steps alongside the installation, all the lights slowly come back on, as a symbol of re-birth and the enduring nature of our memory of them.