August 2006: once the Arts Council funding was in place, David met up with two of the security managers to discuss a schedule for his work. A project that seemed to contradict all their training was about to become a reality.

It’s clear that J and D are as surprised as I am that I have got this far. They meet me beyond the security barriers. They both look more nervous than usual, as though they’ve been summoned to the headmaster’s office. I like them, but they always meet my ideas and suggestions with a mixture of caution, official language (by this I mean evasive tactics) and increasingly weary bemusement.

Throughout the autumn and winter of that year, David made regular weekly visits to the MoD, sometimes testing the patience of his minders as he re-photographed spaces where he had not achieved the results he wanted the first time around. Working in confined, airless spaces in artificial light was exhausting and sometimes frustrating. He continued to push at closed doors, but sometimes they remained closed.

“It will be impossible to get in there, there is not anyone who will let you in…OK?”

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