Knife Angel, Coventry
Fujifilm X-T1, Fujinon XF 18-135mm f3.5~5.6 R LM OIS WR at 18mm, 1/420s, f8, ISO 400

Currently on display in Coventry, the National Monument Against Violence and Aggression, more commonly known as the ‘Knife Angel’ is a towering, poignant tribute to the lives lost to knife violence.

Artist Alfie Bradley disinfected and blunted more than 100,000 weapons before welding them together to form the angel. Thirty percent of the knives used in the sculpture were bloodied on arrival and came in biohazard bags.

It’s an incredibly moving piece of art and ironically I almost had a moment of ‘violence and aggression’ myself while viewing it… The urge to slap senseless the person who insisted on telling me ‘it’s a statue dedicated to Mick Dagger! Geddit? Mick DAGGER!’ was almost irresistible…