The “Knife Angel” is a 27‑foot (about 8.2 m) sculpture made from more than 100,000 knives and blades collected from police forces and public amnesties across the United Kingdom, created as a national monument against violence and aggression and a memorial to victims of knife crime.discoverbury+3
It is a large, winged human figure, with its body and wings formed from real knives that have been cleaned, blunted, and welded onto a steel armature.wikipedia+2
The sculpture is often described as a “National Monument Against Violence & Aggression” and is used in campaigns and education work around youth and knife crime.britishironworkcentre+2
The idea emerged around 2015 at the British Ironwork Centre in Oswestry, Shropshire, led by centre owner Clive Knowles, who was already working with police on knife amnesties as knife crime rose.mymodernmet+1
Artist Alfie Bradley, then resident sculptor at the British Ironwork Centre, designed and built the Knife Angel largely by hand over roughly a year and a half, ultimately using more than 100,000 surrendered and seized knives from 43 police forces.paragonteam+3
Knives arrived in evidence tubes, some with traces of bodily fluids; each had to be disinfected and blunted before being individually welded into place on the frame and wing plates.wikipedia+1
The sculpture is intended to “transform” weapons into a memorial, turning instruments of harm into a visible appeal for peace and social change.discoverbury+2
Many of the blades, especially on the wings, bear hand‑engraved messages from families and communities affected by stabbings, including names and notes of loss and remembrance.britishironworkcentre+1
For some bereaved relatives and former gang members, visiting the Knife Angel and adding inscriptions has become part of grieving or renouncing violence.britishironworkcentre+1
The Knife Angel was completed in 2018 and first unveiled at the British Ironwork Centre, then prominently displayed outside Liverpool Cathedral as it began its role as a national anti‑violence monument.alfiebradley+2
While it is not a “state” monument in the narrow legal sense (it was initiated by a private centre and artist), it has worked closely with police constabularies, councils, and the Home Office, and is widely treated as a national symbol against knife crime.britishironworkcentre+3
Since 2018, the Knife Angel has been on a UK‑wide “National Anti‑Violence Tour,” visiting cities and towns (for example Liverpool, Corby, Aberystwyth, Colchester, Bolton, Walsall, Bury, and others) for temporary installations.alfiebradley+1
Host cities usually run linked programmes: school workshops, remembrance services for victims, and campaigns encouraging people to surrender knives in amnesty bins.paragonteam+2
Campaigners have petitioned for the Knife Angel to be placed on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square to give its anti‑violence message a permanent, high‑profile presence in the capital.news.artnet+1
If you’d like, I can briefly contrast the Knife Angel with older British war memorials to show how its form and materials update the tradition of public monument-making.