To commemorate the centennial of Britain’s involvement in the First World War, ceramic artist Paul Cummins and stage designer Tom Piper conceived of a staggering installation of ceramic poppies planted in the famous dry moat around the Tower of London. Titled “Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red,” the final work will consist of 888,246 red ceramic flowers—each representing a British or Colonial military fatality—that flow through grounds around the tower.

A duck salesman parades his stock to commuters at a busy station in Dhaka, Bangladesh on May 23, 2018. (Photo by Nazmul Hasan Khan/Caters News Agency)

A young arab boy, armed with a rifle and a knife, in the Aden Protectorate near Yemen. (Photo by Richards/Fox Photos/Getty Images). February 1938

Film technicians at Pinewood Studios set up a miniature air crash sequence for the Jack Gold film “The Medusa Touch”, using scale models of a Boeing 747 and a skyscraper. (Photo by Alan F. Davis/Keystone/Getty Images). 9th August 1977

104-year-old John Faulkner of Appleford, Berkshire enjoys a pipe and a glass of beer as he remembers his considerable past. A former jockey, he has been married twice and fathered 32 children. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images). 17th March 1932

Marc Berthod of Switzerland during the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Men's Super Combined on February 12, 2012 in Sochi, Russia. (Photo by Vianney Thibaut/Agence Zoom/Getty Images)

A South China Tiger cub meets public at Guangzhou Zoo on June 22, 2017 in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province of China. Guangzhou Zoo boasts of the successful breeding of South China Tiger cub after 15 years. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

This photo taken on July 19, 2020 shows a person taking photos while water is released from the Three Gorges Dam, a gigantic hydropower project on the Yangtze river, to relieve flood pressure in Yichang, central China's Hubei province. Rising waters across central and eastern China have left over 140 people dead or missing, and floods have affected almost 24 million since the start of July, according to the ministry of emergency management. (Photo by AFP Photo/China Stringer Network)