Relic of Fence: Greenham Common circa 1982

A potent reminder of the Greenham Common protests that started in 1981 with The Women's Peace Camps that continued until 2000. The sculpture contains a piece clipped from the perimeter fence and was placed on the monument to martyrs Elias Thacker and John Copping (who were hanged in 1583 for their principles), in Bury St. Edmunds for a member of the public to find. This was part of Groving Projects, curated by Barbara Duggan. Writers were invited to respond to the work. Here is a powerful piece by S.A. MacLeod: The fence knows… … about the whirr of a B-29 overhead, how a man inside, who’d named the plane after his mother, pressed a button, and the Little Boy fell, twisting children going to school into charcoal. In a flash, a buzzing city became flattened ash. The fence knows that they did it again, launched Fat Man from another plane, turning toddlers playing nursery games to dust. Women running, heads split open, peeling skin. Another 100,000 lives gone. The fence knows that years later men still toyed with machines that kill, enough to eradicate the world. Stored them near a crowded city, building an enclosure to protect the weapons, not the people. The fence knows about the women who walked from Wales to demonstrate their disgust. Later 30,000 joined hands, sang songs, encircled the chilling base within, held up mirrors to reflect it back, dressed as teddy bears, to stir some feeling, memories. The fence knows about the women weeping and weeping and weeping because it was the only thing left to do. They’d cut the fence, pulled it down, danced inside and still the icy mindlessness endured.