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.

Police officers standby while a forest fire burns the hills of Valparaiso city, northwest of Santiago, March 13, 2015. Several hectares of land has been burned due to forest fires near Valparaiso city, with no report of deaths or injuries, local authorities said. (Photo by Lucas Galvez/Reuters)

A man walks past a mural along a street in New Delhi on June 30, 2023. (Photo by Arun Sankar/AFP Photo)

A farmer harvests rice on a field in Lalitpur, Nepal, on October 30, 2014. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)

The Lexus UX concept is displayed on media day at the Paris auto show, in Paris, France, September 30, 2016. (Photo by Benoit Tessier/Reuters)

A rickshaw driver looks out the windshield as he drives onto the highway in Mardan, Pakistan January 30, 2017. (Photo by Fayaz Aziz/Reuters)

People wash in water from a broken water pipeline on the outskirts of Kolkata, India, March 30, 2016. (Photo by Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters)

Women pose for a selfie at Ipanema Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on July 30, 2016. (Photo by Nacho Doce/Reuters)