Michael Rakowitz: April is the Cruellest Month

“April is the cruellest month” is the sculpture realised by artist Michael Rakowitz as part of England’s Creative Coast Waterfronts commission by Turner Contemporary. Modelled after Daniel Taylor, a young soldier who served with the Royal Artillery during the Iraq War in 2003, the sculpted man lies on the waterfront of Margate and points towards London, where the decision to go to war with Iraq was made. As stated by the artist, the sculpture represents the British soldier’s trauma in fighting a war mostly felt as unethical.