Roses on the Casemate

Roses planted in a strip along the foot of the casemate, in front of two metres of concrete poured to keep men out.

Somebody weeds this bed. Somebody chose roses. The wall behind them is pitted and streaked and entirely indifferent, and the flowers go in every year regardless.

Of everything I photographed in Normandy this is the one I keep coming back to. It is not about the war. It is about the eighty years afterwards, and what people do with something they cannot move and will not forget.

The Merville Battery, Merville-Franceville-Plage, Normandy. August 2019. Canon 6D Mark II, 16–35mm.

Printed at 37,9 × 30 cm through WhiteWall in Berlin. Choose Ilford or Baryta paper, as a plain print or framed — what the finishes actually mean.