The Photography of Jan Kempenaers

We recently noticed the fantastic photographs of Jan Kempenaers. The images above are from a series called “Spomenik: The End of History”. Although it’s almost hard to believe these bizarre, massive structures are real, they are all apparently monuments erected by the communist regime in former Yugoslavia.

Steven Jacobs explains:

Paying attention to their careful integration in the landscape, he demonstrates that landscapes are turned into sites of memory. Commemorating the common traumatic experiences during the Second World War and the partisan battles, these monuments were intended to provide the people of Yugoslavia with a common history and identity that would be productive in its future evolution. However, in the late twentieth century, these landscapes were torn by nationalist and ethnic violence and their monuments are now neglected. The idea of progress has been buried under the weight of history and the monuments, which were once machines of sightseeing and (photographic) image production, have become obsolete and invisible.

bamart: “Jan Kempenaers and the Picturesque”

[via FormFiftyFive & The Exposure Project]