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H a u n t i n g M e m o r y
{Haunting Memory 1 || Haunting Memory 2 || Haunting Memory 3}
A Triptych by R.A. Beecroft MA
The Nottingham Trent University
Note that each image is 100K, taking almost a minute to download. Patience will reward you.
- I was aware, as we all are, of the film footage that had come out of the concentration camps at the end of the Second World War. These images are fleeting; they have evaporated before the realisation of what is really there has sunk in. Capturing, combining, altering, and re-presenting moving pictures as still images, turns the transient flow into a hard, contemplative and enduring visual piece.
Having recorded a series of programmes on the Holocaust which were broadcast as part of the 50 year Remembrance celebrations, I was moved to try to make a work which honoured the victims. My primary motivation came from an image of a serene young woman, who was photographed in among the prisoners and, no doubt, ended her life in a gas chamber, her body thrown into the ovens. I set her gentle portrait amongst the appalling suffering to try to convey some dignity and compassion to her memory and through her, to all who suffered.
By contrast, I have included some images of the Nazi perpetrators but they are used upside down, back to front and in the bottom portion of the pictures. I feel it should not be too hard for a viewer to work out the convention employed and realise how this reflects my thoughts.
This triptych has been created as a result of my research project which entails mining the media * for imagery. This is then imported into the computer, edited, combined, re-sized, re-arranged and modified so that the results expose an extra meaning and visual experience.
*Research Project by Roger Beecroft, Department of Visual and Performing Arts, Nottingham Trent University.
“Mining the Media”: applying digital image manipulation techniques to images produced by the media.
All materials Copyright 1996 Roger Beecroft, All Rights Reserved. Please do not copy or use without the expressed written permission of the author. Email Roger Beecroft at vla3beecrra@ntu.ac.uk for more info.
The pictures included here have been reduced in size to fit our computer screens. While the loss of quality is noted, in future months we will attempt to give you full screen shots of each section of these amazing pictures.