The Sands Of Time: Abandoned Monuments in The Former Yugoslavia

From 2006 to 2009, the photographer Jan Kempenaers used a 1975 map of memorials to tour the ex-Yugoslavia region, now Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, etc. to record these striking monuments.

As standalone sculptures they are certainly imposing but these incredible eerie structures were actually commissioned in the 60’s and 70’s by the former president of Yugoslavia Josip Broz Tito commemorating the sites of battles and concentration camps in WW2.

Whilst still functioning as works of art, their clear neglect and dilapidation for me, reflects our collective forgetting of the geography of these events and their places.

You can view further images at Crack Two and Kempenaers book Spomenik is available to purchase from independent publishing house Roma- a worthy addition to any library.