Jewish cemeteries are unusual places for me. When I started to photograph them I was reading the novel of Marcel Proust In Search of Lost Times”. As I understand it, the novel is dedicated to memory and the passing of time, how much is left in our collective memories after the people who passed away, and the time in which they lived, has gone, and also things which provoke these memories. These cemeteries are for me similar reminders of people not known to me, their life, work, achievements and private lives, and my aim is to preserve the memories by cataloguing their disappearance and their disintegration. I took my pictures in Jewish cemeteries lying on the border of two polish regions: Silesiaand Malopolska since 2007. Jews began to settle in these areas in the eleventh century. They created their own settlements, built synagogues and founded cemeteries. They were born, lived and died. The Jews contributed to the culture and richness of Europe until the 20th Century and ‘The Final Solution’, the Holocaust, when the Germans expelled and killed most of the Jews in Europe. The extermination was devastating, destroying synagogues and cemeteries. In my work I have also included these, photographing places where they once were, and where currently there is only, for example, a square, a lawn, or even parking. In the project I am also searching for my own ‘lost time’. Missed opportunities, uncaptured images. It is an attempt to recall the ‘might have been’

• Text by Jacek Lidwin
• Photography by Jacek Lidwin

Contributors Biographies

Jacek Lidwin lives in Poland. He photographed since he was 8 years old, but photography has been in the centre of his professional life since 2005. He tried his hand at in many areas of photography. Since 2007 He has been photographing Jewish cemeteries. He also like street photography. In 2012 he was a stipendist of the minister of culture in Poland. His photos have featured in many publications and he has produced artwork and promotional images for artists, theatres and newspapers. Jacek was exhibited in various exhibitions in Poland