The Bootprint Installation

In March 2019 I was asked to create an installation to commemorate not only D-Day but very particularly the 749 mainly young American servicemen who lost their lives in a training exercise on Slapton Sands in Devon in April 1944.

After studying a great deal of photography and footage from the D-Day landings, I was particularly inspired by the iconic Into the Jaws of Death, photographed by US Coast Guard chief petty officer Robert F. Sargent.

The result was the Bootprint installation. 749 pairs of bootprints, modelled on the sole of the boots used at the time, laid out facing the sea on Slapton Sands. The same sea that had claimed their lives, and that should have carried them less than two months later to the shores of northern France, over the horizon.

As with There But Not There and the Tommy, my focus was on inspiring people simply to think. I wanted to create something not too literal, leaving room for each person's own interpretation, reflections and thoughts.

After very considerable planning, I worked with a team of extremely willing locals and my ever reliable assistants, working between tides to lay the bootprints, ensure the media secured their imagery and then cleared the beach. Extensive press interest ensured that this tragic story (kept secret at the time) went national and formed an early part of the D-Day commemorations.

I was particularly moved that locals and visitors, once they understood what was happening and why, asked if they too could help lay the bootprints. It became a truly interactive installation.

Given the interest generated at Slapton Sands, it was followed by a similar installation on Sword Beach on the anniversary of D-Day.

Dates: April 2019