Category: abandoned sites

Andre Govia

Photography by Andre Govia from the “Abandoned Planet” Series

Andre Govia is a photographer and urban explorer who has been photographing abandoned locations since 1999.

“We don’t damage anything. We don’t break into a building … We never remove items from a building, never deface a building. We’re there to actually capture the glory of the building,” said Govia. “If somebody is found to have removed an item or someone is found to have damaged a property to gain entry, then they are very much frowned upon and often outcast.”

Rebecca Bathory

Photography by Rebecca Bathory

Rebecca Lilith Bathory is a British photographer, living in London. As Rebecca Litchfield, she is known for her series “Soviet Ghosts”. She graduated from University for the Creative Arts with a first class degree in Graphic Design in June 2006. Between 2008 and 2010 she studied for a master’s degree in Fashion Photography at The London College of Fashion, for which she was awarded a distinction. In 2014 she was awarded a Techne scholarship for a research PhD degree at the University of Roehampton to research the photography of dark tourism. She graduated with a PHD in Visual Anthropology.

Finding beauty in darkness, poetry and meaning in the forgotten and surreal, imaginary worlds amongst decay. Rebecca Bathory’s artworks breathe life into forgotten historical locations, they reawaken old narratives, find beauty and meaning in their ruin and revive the memories of lost moments in places tainted by the indigenous.

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Yugoslavia: Abandoned Monuments

Abandoned Monuments in Yugoslavia

These structures were commissioned by former Yugoslavian president Josip Broz Tito in the 1960s and 70s to commemorate sites where WWII battles took place (like Tjentište, Kozara and Kadinjača), or where concentration camps stood (like Jasenovac and Niš). They were designed by different sculptors (such as Dušan Džamonja, Vojin Bakić, Miodrag Živković, Jordan and Iskra Grabul) and architects (Bogdan Bogdanović, Gradimir Medaković…), conveying powerful visual impact to show the confidence and strength of the Socialist Republic.

In the 1980s, these monuments attracted millions of visitors per year, especially young pioneers for their “patriotic education.” After the Republic dissolved in early 1990s, they were completely abandoned, and their symbolic meanings were forever lost. Their physical dilapidated condition and institutional neglect reflect a general social historical fracturing. On the other hand, they are still of stunning beauty without any symbolic significances.