Things Out of Site Continue to Exist

This is one of a series of large drawings of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles produced by Graham Ashton in the autumn of 1977. Missiles and aircraft have fascinated him as objects since childhood. This series of drawings was particularly inspired by the development of cruise missiles. The artist recalled the following at the time: 'A bomber at least involves a far more human contact in the murder. With cruise missiles a man just locates the target, presses a button two thousand miles away, and he can pinpoint the area to a ten square yard space. How sinister and dehumanised have we become?'