Lynn Silverman’s The Present Past depicts Jewish cemeteries while Todd Forsgren’s Post-Industrial Eden is an exploration of allotment gardening. Such sites are ubiquitous elements in the Czech landscape.
The burial grounds and gardens are separated from the surrounding landscape by walls and fences for protection and to maintain privacy. Lynn Silverman is fascinated by the details of the environment found adjacent to the cemetery walls. In Forsgren’s photographs, the chain link fence plays a dynamic role in how it breaks up and re-frames the space. Both artists use the trajectory of the fences to guide the viewer through the landscape.
In these images, signs of contemporary life are juxtaposed with patches of earth, which range from well-tended plots to forgotten and unkempt spaces. These photographs offer a view of the complex issues surrounding the history of land use in the Czech Republic.
The exhibition ends on September 4, 2013.
