‘In Perpetuity’, depicts the architectural spaces of remembrance as designed by Lutyens, the monuments to the missing (Thiepval, Arras and Villers - Bretonneux) and the Commonwealth cemeteries incorporating the ‘great war stone’. Built on land given by France in perpetuity to commemorate thousands of our war dead. Entering the cemeteries I felt I was directed (by architectural design), taken through Lutyens’ layout, my field of vision controlled and manipulated by structures; the east/west axis; the elevated monuments; the vertical and horizontal sight lines; the formality of regimented burials, with their alignments and misalignment.

These cemeteries are on foreign soil, given ‘In Perpetuity’. I was standing in a landscape that replicated an ‘English country garden’ or ‘outside cathedrals’ that are maintained to a pristine condition. The green grass is kept to an immaculate standard, gardeners are in evidence. At these sites it is as if time does not exist, but they do age, and with time, attitudes and perspectives change. Recently, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission have stated that they are taking into account their use of water and changing the planting in accordance with that aim.