Act of Oblivion (2012)

“The art of forgetting is a high and delicate enterprise, demanding astute judgement about what to keep and what to let go, to salvage or to shred, to memorialise or to anathematise. (…) To forget is as essential as to keep things in mind, for no individual or collectivity can afford to remember everything.”

David Lowenthal

Monuments are part of a collective memory, yet often they have been erected to avoid the need for active commemoration. Their location may hint at the objectives of the generation commissioning the effigy of the notable person to be cast in bronze or cut out of stone. Is the memorial placed in the remotest corner of a park or in a prominent spot? Does the height elevate the person to show them respect, or just to get them sufficiently out of sight? The plaques identifying the dignitary often indicate only their name and are not helpful to explain whatever mandated their place in history.

I approached the statues as closely as possible and photographed them from the average height of an adult. As all context is removed, only the resulting perspective gives a hint on the statues’ placement.

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