Reflecting on the grace and splendour of the field cemeteries of past wars - simple memorials to the fallen - John Mackinlay reviews Steve McQueen's installation, Queen and Country. A modern interpretation of those same principles of dignity and respect, he argues that it is a fitting commemoration of the soldiers who died in the Iraq war. In a thousand years' time archaeologists will judge the British to have been a most pugnacious nation. Scraping away the silt, they will find memorials and war cemeteries in at least 150 countries, testifying to military expeditions and long-term garrisons emanating from this island. But hopefully these remains will also show that, as well as a capacity for war, the British have dealt with their war dead in a spectacularly graceful manner.
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机译:约翰·麦金莱(John Mackinlay)回顾史蒂夫·麦奎因(Steve McQueen)的装置《皇后与乡村》(Queen and Country),回顾过去战争野战公墓的优雅和辉煌-纪念堕落者的简单纪念馆。他对那些相同的尊严和尊重原则进行了现代解释,认为这是对在伊拉克战争中丧生的士兵的适当纪念。一千多年的历史中,考古学家将判断英国是一个最挑衅的国家。他们铲除淤泥,将在至少150个国家/地区找到纪念馆和战争公墓,以证明来自该岛的军事远征和长期驻军。但是希望这些遗骸也能表明,除了具有战争能力之外,英国还以惊人的优美方式处理了他们的战争死者。
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