Blake

Fragments and No More Landmines A word from the artist

The Art

The Fragments collection represents the devastating effect of warfare on civilian society. Originally inspired by archaeological remnants of Greek and Roman sculpture destroyed in a continuous cycle of wars, these eroded figures comment on our society and our destructive nature.

This series of sculptures make socio-political commentary that speaks of both our civilization and our history. Further, the campaign surrounding the work includes a call to action that is more commonly applied to commercial advertising. This communication takes a step towards a political world and confronts the exploitation of the art in order to encourage positive action.

The Objective

The objective of the Fragments campaign is to raise public awareness of the social problems caused by landmines and to offer the sculptures in support of a solution to help reduce the destruction caused by these tragic weapons. One hundred Fragments sculptures are for sale in the UK to finance the charitable work of No More Landmines, a registered UK charity No. 1110770 and the UK partner of the global Adopt-a-Minefield campaign.

Fragments, a collection of 29 one-quarter life-size bronzes, will raise funds to benefit No More Landmines for their mine clearance and survivor support activities. The exhibition will tour England, North America, and Asia over the next several years.

The Fragments collection represents a charitable initiative that extends far beyond the art world; as of July 2007, these sculptures have become "working art" and are actively pioneering for change within developing communities in our world.

The Results

Funds from the Fragment series of sculpture has funded the Mine Advisory Group's efforts in Moxico Province of Eastern Angola to assist with advanced surveying, undertaking technical and community-based assessments of contaminated areas and thereby gaining detailed technical information, which the clearance teams can use to accurately target their de-mining activities and allow efficient use of clearance resources. This survey has likely reduced the size of the suspect area by approximately 20-40% allowing the clearance teams to target specific areas where there is a high probability of contamination.
Angola's landmine and explosive remnant of war (ERW) problem, is a result of four decades of almost continuous warfare. In Moxico Province, an agricultural area, one in every three persons is missing a limb. Most are refugees from DR Congo or Zambia who were resettled on land that is heavily contaminated with landmines and other explosive debris.

Fragments have also funded Mine Advisory Group's Vietnam de-mining team MAT. 2, through No More Landmines and Adopt-A-Minefield. This team of de-miners spent all of July in Quang Hung Commune in central Vietnam. Historically, Vietnam experienced one of the highest concentrations of bombing in the world during the American Vietnamese war and today even 30 years after the conflict has ended, there remains a very high quantity of unexploded bombs. The team of 11 male and female technicians, supported by a medical team, conducted house-to-house search of the villages of Hung Loc and Tu Loan requesting the local villagers to identify all areas where unexploded weapons were thought to still remain, and areas where accidents have occurred in the past. By the end of the month the team had visited 625 houses, and identified and destroyed 318 items of unexploded bombs.

The Future

Fragments have just begun to clear the remnants of wars in our world and will over the next few years continue to fund No More Landmines in their important work reducing the risk to civilians of landmines and unexploded bombs as well as assisting the survivors of the frequent accidents caused by these tragic weapons. The exhibition will travel to the United States in 2008 and will continue to sponsor the American branch associated with No More Landmines.

This sculpture truly is art for life's sake.

Becky Maynard, Head of Fundraising for The No More Landmines Trust said: We are delighted to have the opportunity to work with Blake whose stunning sculptures are not only beautiful pieces of art but are also saving lives every day. Already communities are being freed from the terrible legacy that landmines leave behind when wars are over and each sculpture will have a permanent positive impact on lives around the world".