A Small Study of Concentration
Camp Architecture

 


2015 - 2016
Archival Pigment Print
11 x 14" / 16 x 20” / 20 x 24” (depending on image)
Edition of 5, 1 AP



This study of concentration camp architecture explores selected buildings from former National Socialist concentration, labor and death camps in Germany and Poland. The images were all taken with the same settings—a wide lens, symmetrically framed to the front of the structure, and taken at half the structure's height. By photographing the buildings from the same viewpoint and distance, the similarities between the structures are being emphasized.





The images are part of a larger project, Oppressive Architecture, that explores how architecture was used in the development of the National Socialist terror system. The photos examine the inhumane ways that prisoners were forced to live and labor in German concentration, labor, and death camps as represented by their architecture. These structures continue to influence the contemporary landscape, its inhabitants, and our understanding of history. The project’s contribution is its documentation of a wide range of remaining physical structures of oppression. It also recognizes their historic value and raises questions about how architecture can be used to commemorate and reconcile a country’s past.








Mark