Souvenir of the Great War Trench Art Pair British 18 Pounder Artillery Shell Casings

During leisure hours at the front, skilled soldiers created trench art from the remnants of war.  They would use  discarded bullets and artillery shell casings.  Many of these remnants of war were done with their own equipment and leftover items, but also by items captured and left by enemy soldiers. Trench art objects are holders of soldiers’ memories and reminders of the conflict they faced. Made out of recycled war refuse such as shell casings, spent bullets or whatever came to hand. They tell us things like where soldiers went and what their surroundings were like. They also give hints about soldiers’ thoughts and actions. Something as simple and functional as a matchbox cover can provide a map of a soldier’s movements while other, more decorative examples, show a desire to find and create beauty, to camouflage war in art. Trench art can be made of any number of things. Many objects were made out of the scraps created by war. This included ammunition shell cases, bullet casings, shrapnel, and pieces of destroyed buildings or downed planes. These materials would all have been readily available in the war zones to soldiers, their prisoners of war and to civilians still in the area.