Commemoration Reframed: Pages of the Sea, a UK Case Study

To mark the centenary of the signing of the armistice on 11 November, an ‘informal nationwide gesture of remembrance’ titled Pages of the Sea took place on 32 beaches around the United Kingdom. The design of the event was led by the film director Danny Boyle. It was part of the UK's official arts programme, 14-18 NOW, to mark the centenary of the First World War. A large-scale portrait of a casualty from the war was drawn into the sand at low tide at each location and washed away as the tide came in. Members of the public joined in by creating silhouettes of people in the sand, and in doing so it was intended that they would be remembering the millions of lives lost or affected by the conflict. This chapter will examine the impact of Pages by the Sea in the context of the wider work of the arts organization 14-18 NOW. It will explain how, despite earlier anxieties about ‘triumphalism’ and militaristic overtones in the pre-centenary period, the most impactful public commemorative events were not the state-led official ceremonies, or informed by leading historians, but those that re-framed commemorative practice by producing artistic works like Pages of the Sea to create a new form of performative public remembrance ritual. This chapter will draw on my own experiences of the event before, during and after, and of the people with whom I interacted on the day.