This is not a minefield

Created by Ian Golding (2024), the title of this artwork comes from the famous painting by Rene Magritte “The treachery of Images” which contains the words ‘Ceci n’est pas une pipe’, (this is not a pipe). Here, against the backdrop of this beautiful cathedral, this billboard, with its odd statement creates a moment of confusion. The viewer will not be fooled. This is not a minefield, not here in this sacred space.

The work offers a dissonant moment, a liminal space to imagine what it might be like to live amongst the remnants of war. We take for granted the freedom to walk wherever we want. In some countries, like Iraq, where you place your foot could be a matter of life and death.

This work was made in collaboration with ‘The Mines Advisory Group’.

For thousands of years people have made objects that act as an intermediary with the divine. In the Christian tradition, some believers would make wax votive offerings shaped into body parts, asking God for healing.

These wax forms have been made from scans of a TS-50 mine, a device that was widely deployed in Afghanistan. They are placed quietly beside a memorial that commemorates lives lost in Afghanistan, a place that has suffered more than many with the remnants of war. In making these objects I am offering a prayer of hope for a world without these terrible devices.

This work was made in collaboration with ‘The Mines Advisory Group’.