You may or may not have seen these photos before. They have been floating around the internet for some time (we’re sorry it took us so long to post them) and they are just too good to pass up. Photographer Jan Kempenaers travelled around the Balkans for a number of years and created a series of amazing photographs of the ‘Spomeniks’ (monuments) that were commissioned by the Yugoslavian Socialist Republic during the 60s and 70s.
”The Antwerp-based photographer Jan Kempenaers undertook a laborious trek through the Balkans in order to photograph a series of these mysterious objects. He captures the Spomeniks in the misty mountain landscape at sundown. Looking at the photographs one must admit to a certain embarrassment. We see the powerful beauty of the monumental sculptures and we catch ourselves forgetting the victims in whose name they were built. This is in no way a reproach to the photographer, but rather attests to the strength of the images. After all, Kempenaers did not set out as a documentary photographer, but first and foremost as an artist seeking to create a new image. An image so powerful that it engulfs the viewer. He allows the viewer to enjoy the melancholy beauty of the Spomeniks, but in so doing, forces us to take a position on a social issue.”
What resulted was an amazing collection of some striking and mysterious structures. These abandoned soviet buildings are supreme examples of art and architecture as a snapshot in time, a testament to the often harsh history and reality of living underneath a socialist regime.
