Yugoslavia: Three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century. The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was invaded by the Axis Powers in 1941, and because of the events that followed, was officially abolished in 1943 and 1945. From 2006 to 2009, Photographer Jan Kempenaers, traveled all around the ex-Yugoslavia region (now Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montengero) with some map memorials and some clues. The result of his travels was materialized into the images bellow: "A series of melancholy yet striking images".
Podgaric
Petrova Gora
Kosmaj
Krusevo
Kozara
Grmec
Ilirska Briska
Jasenovac
Sanski Most
Korenica
Tjentiste
Kolasin
Kadinjaca
Niksic
These monuments were raised by different designers and architects, including Dušan Džamonja, Vojin Bakić, Miodrag Živković and Gradimir Medakovi. With the means of showing the confidence and strength of the Socialist Republic, they were abandoned after the regime fell, and they're "symbolic" meaning was forever lost. I do believe (however) that they convey something different now: they represent a lost nation, a lost feeling, and they remind us that something can be aesthetically beautiful and powerful, even when it's meaning has being forgotten.
***Special thanks to my friend, Melody Meyer, for getting me into this. We shall re-discover Yugoslavia someday.
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