Blown Away

Overall Height 1.75m Base 80cm diam.

A study of a moment. The young man, his life fleeting as a gust of laurel leaves, he sees the whole world in a glance.

Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future
- T. S. ELIOT

Inspired by Eliots Four Quartets, this piece pays homage to so many brave people whose lives are altered by their time. The plinth fabricated in mild steel is reminiscent of hastily dispatched munitions or ship's funnel left to rust. Its stripes of bronze reflect adopted strength.

The sculpture was created for The Garden Gallery's exhibition, Echoes in the Memory. Rachel Bebb brought together a group of artists who considered through the theme of memories and personal histories to cherish the past.

For BLOWN AWAY's first summer, he transferred to the Sandham Memorial Chapel at Burghclere, near Newbury. A National Trust property, The Chapel houses a series of large-scale murals painted by Sir Stanley Spencer, portraying his experiences of the First World War.

Recovering soldiers from Tedworth House, helped to create the new garden there, and they commented that Blown Away "puts a face on the unknown soldier". For some, the sculpture "gets to the thrust of the rawness of emotion when you have PTSD".

Thanks to the incredible generosity of a couple, clients of The Garden Gallery, now known as Rachel Bebb Contemporary, BLOWN AWAY has been permanently loaned to the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.