These brass shell cartridge cases were not only fired during the Great War (the 37mm at Arras, the 105mm at Loos) but picked up by servicemen and turned to a more peaceful purpose; the shells as vases, the bullet as the base of a letter opener. Not quite turning swords to plough shares but quite touching objects nonetheless. Anonymous, lethal objects re shaped and inscribed by the men themselves to commemorate their war.

Ever since I was a child I've found the Remembrance ceremonies of November very moving, their emphasis still on the loss and suffering of war rather than its false glorification, recently however I've been quite disturbed by a tendency particularly on the part of some revisionist historians and politicians to challenge that narrative, to celebrate rather than grieve. Those that fought the Great War believed it to be a war to end all wars, a vain hope, it did however destroy the romantic delusions of glory and adventure, for ever and we do them all a disservice if we forget that lesson. With the constant state of war we now seem to find ourselves in its a lesson we cannot afford to forget.