Sven Fennema has a penchant for Lost Places. For years he has been using his camera to visit places that people have long since abandoned and forgotten. These are the titles of his successful illustrated books “Nostalgia”, “Melancholia” and “Tales of Yesteryear”.
His latest book project came about in 2020 when he made a virtue out of necessity. “A year that was very well planned with trips and projects was not only thrown overboard by the pandemic, many things could simply no longer be implemented,” he recalls. “Lockdown and quarantine became the new reality and brought almost all art to a standstill.”
So he decided to continue a photographic series that had already begun in 2009 on his first visit to the Cimitero Monumentale di Staglieno in Genoa: “Memento” – a portrait of old cemeteries, some of whose graves have been left to their own devices for decades and by be overgrown by nature.
places of remembrance
His latest photo book entitled ““Memento – Enchanted Cemeteries” takes us on his journey across Europe to the places of stillness and remembrance Fennema has visited during the pandemic period.
The focus is on the romantic sites in Germany from Aachen via Cologne, Berlin to Dresden and Waibstadt, an old Jewish cemetery in the southwest of the republic. A morbid aesthetic emanates from his photographs, from all the once elaborately designed tombs, epitaphs and mausoleums that are no longer maintained by anyone.
At the same time, his graveyard shots also convey timelessness, a lot of green, rampant nature and an almost infinite calm. “For me, silence is something positive, inspiration and peace,” says the photographer. “In the right dose, I like to be alone with myself – although being alone and loneliness are two completely different things.”
Further information: https://verlagshaus24.de/frederking-thaler and https://places-of-remembrance.com
Also see other photo book projects by the photographer:
– Sven Fennema: “Tales of Yesterday” The magic of abandoned places
– Once people lived here – now the places are forgotten beauties
This photo gallery contains so-called affiliate links. There is more information here.