the politics of memory

Architectures of remembrance are always profoundly disturbed when a political upheaval is taking place. The politics of the Balkans are best described thus - as upheavals - rather than as continuous processes.

My interest in architectures of remembrance has been explored through the photographic work that is << (mis)understandings >> but the uniqueness of the Partisan Memorial Cemetery in Mostar stems from the fact that, although rooted in different historical foundations, it stills enjoys a controversy, even hatred, comparable to that of some pre-1989 monuments in my native Bulgaria.

However, the contrasts could not be starker for historical reasons: former Yugoslavia had one of the largest partisan resistances during the Second World War and, famously, the Ustaše mimicked the Nazis in ways unseen in Bulgaria. Having said this, one would assume that a complex dedicated to the memory of anti-fascists would enjoy a status of societal consensus, but the alarming rise of Neo-Nazism has not left the Memorial Cemetery unscarred.

The political is now examined differently than in the times of Yugoslavia, of course, but the architecture’s brilliant conversation between Ornamental Brutalism and traditional Islamic motiffs is inventive, limit-stretching and inspiring to this day. Nature and the traditional architectural motifs of the region fuse into this explosion of curves, terraces and serpentines, quite literally drawing the visitor in. The spiritual symbolism of ascending to the terraces through which water once cascaded cannot be ignored, for reflection is not just encouraged but actively ‘enforced’.