Notebooks: Research Notes
Places
This section contains information and research on places I've visited over the course of the last few years, whether abroad, in the UK or in my hometown of Oxford.
Auschwitz-Birkenau
I visited Auschwitz-Birkenau in October 2006 and my visit there had a profound effect on both my life and my work. Throughout the course of my MA in Contemporary Arts, my experience as a tourist there was central to my research. This section contains selected highlights of the work that I produced.
Bełżec
Even with a site as large as Auschwitz-Birkenau, it's hard to equate its size with the number of people killed there. Yet this appalling correlation of camp size to victims, is perhaps at its most disturbing in Bełżec, where in a space of less than 300 metres by 300 metres, approximately 600,000 people perished.
Ypres
Ypres is most famous for its role in World War One. A key position in Germany's planned sweep across Belgium into France, it witnessed some of the most ferocious fighting of the conflict with the Third Battle of Ypres (21st July to 6th November 1917) claiming nearly half a million casualties on all sides with only a few miles of ground taken by the Allies.
Verdun
Having arrived in Verdun, we stopped the car at a track leading into a wood and no sooner had we started to walk amongst the trees than we became aware of the undulating ground; the shell craters and trenches, around and from within which this new wood had grown.
The Somme
The name Somme is, in the minds of many, synonymous with death, a byword for futile and indiscriminate slaughter. Think of the Somme and the image of men walking towards their deaths comes to mind. Think of the Somme and one date stands out above all others; 1st July 1916, the day the battle began.
Będzin
I first discovered Będzin in a book I bought in Auschwitz-Birkenau which contained reproductions of photographs found in the camp just after its liberation. Many of the photographs were those which had once belonged to people who'd lived in the town and who in the summer of 1943, had been taken to Auschwitz and murdered.
Highgate Cemetery
I'd known about Highgate cemetery, principally as the last resting place of Karl Marx, but this was the first time I had visited it. Having left Archways Tube station, Monika and I walked up Highgate Hill, through the pleasant surroundings of Waterlow Park and found ourselves outside a large iron gate, standing amongst a small group of people waiting to go in.
Old London Road
This project is an investigation into a landmark I've always found beguiling. It's little more than a small stretch of road that runs across Shotover and which once carried traffic between Oxford and London.
Wolvercote Cemetery
I have visited the cemetery on two previous occasions and found it a very moving experience, particular reading those headstones which allude to family members lost in the Holocaust.
University Parks
The University Parks in Oxford, consist of about 70 acres (30 hectares) of parkland on the West bank of the River Cherwell, together with a 4 acre (1.5 hectare) spur of land running towards the South. The Parks include sports areas and a large collection of plants and trees in landscaped surroundings.