An army of 5,000 ice sculptures slowly melting in the sunshine brought home to Birmingham the sacrifices so many were forced to endure in World War I.This surreal scene was set up to commemorate the men and women (not only soldiers) who lost their lives in World War I. Brazilian sculptor Nele Azevedo arranged 5,000 little ice figurines on the step of Chamberlain Square in Birmingham, U.K., to remember the men and women lost during WWI, including the civilians. The melting, ghostly figures, placed by volunteers, created a truly haunting image, and they were crowned by a red figure that seemed to drip a trail of blood down the steps. “I wanted to break with the traditional characteristics of a monument,“Azevedo told Birmingham Mail. “My sculptures remember people who are not remembered by other monuments.“
