BoG Standard
2015
Cast iron, tin, soil
1.2 x 1 x 0.9m
Made for the exhibition The First Casualty of War is Truth, 2015 this sculpture combines three facts uncovered from the period of the two World Wars:
The origin of the phrase Bog Standard dates from between the world wars, when the only precision engineering facilities in Europe were in Britain and Germany. Instruments were therefore calibrated to ‘BoG’ (British or German) Standard.
As the Allied soldiers emerged from the trenches into the German fire, the German army aimed for their knees as the most effective way to stop the advance; a scythe formed of the lead of the bullets.
At Passchendaele 1917, the scale of the fatalities was so great that for each individual death only two inches of ground was re-taken by the Allies.
Elizabeth Turner 