100 Poppies

Dawn visited the Lochnagar Crater for the first time in 2015 and the experience left a strong desire to develop a creative project in response. The poppy petals strewn around the crater brought to mind the scattered bodies that still lie buried, broken and decaying and they left a particularly powerful impression. Dawn had an overwhelming urge to gather the poppies, map and record their whereabouts and take them home. She didn’t, they were not hers to collect, except there was one, it was trodden into the dry, pale earth, faded and damaged and she couldn’t leave it behind. Dawn carefully brushed the soil away, wrapped it in a tissue, put it in her bag and took it home.

In 2017, with permission from Richard Dunning Dawn returned to the crater to collect 100 poppies. The poppies collected were recorded, mapped, numbered, archived and brought back to her studio. The poppies are now cared for, still damaged but no longer decaying.

Dawn made 100 monoprints to represent each poppy. On the reverse of each of these prints is a map, made from a topographical drawing (although not an accurate one) of the crater, showing the location where that particular poppy was found.

Each of these monoprints is for sale for £25 each with all the proceeds going to the Lochnagar Crater Foundation to support their work.