Of species

‘Of species’ focuses on Lety in the Czech Republic, where a now disused pig farm – featuring barracks, sheds and other buildings - stands on the site of a demolished concentration camp for Roma people; a site that is both disorientating and disturbing. To reflect this feeling, simple video footage of the site’s current condition is shown alongside factual information gathered during the project. The viewer sees one thing and reads another, placing them in a position where clear comprehension is difficult and inviting them to experience difficult and uncomfortable associations whilst exploring how we constantly reengage and navigate the past in the present context. The work speaks to Müller’s (2002: 34) notion that ‘apart from the power of memory to influence the present, there is also the power of the present to influence the memory’. It invites the viewer to consider the stark contrast between the European Union’s ambition to create ‘a common European History of remembrance’ and the reality of how many Holocaust sites – particularly those where victim groups remain marginalized - are treated in the present (Milošević 2017). Confronting these issues against the backdrop of a former pig farm raises important questions regarding how humans perceive and behave towards, each other and how this might be reflected within the landscape (Hekova 2018; Fawn 2001).