Requiem

In Auschwitz, I felt the presence of its ghosts guiding me, guiding my camera, and was then, and continue to be now, moved to share this place's tale of tragedy through the images I saw through my lens.

As I was preparing the photos for this book, certain lines from the poems of Stanley Kunitz relentlessly haunted me; they seem to pair so naturally with the images. I reached out to Gretchen Kunitz, his daughter and literary executor, and am forever grateful that she granted permission to use his poetry and am touched that she believes he would find this a "fitting application of his words." His literary agent, Chuck Verrill, and publisher, W.W. Norton & Company, also graciously gave permissions.

Requiem, the book and exhibition, is part of my contribution and commitment to Auschwitz as a meditation on decay and memory. Like others' sacred grounds that have been neglected and are decaying, Auschwitz today is disappearing, raising major questions about whether places of this kind should be restored and the importance of memory and commemoration.

This book is still a prototype and its final version will be published prior to September, 2009, when Requiem will be exhibited at the Griffin Museum of Photography. For more information about the final version of this book, please send an email to susan at susanmaytell dot com with "Requiem - Blurb book" in the subject line.

Requiem was first exhibited at the Museum of Art / Fort Lauderdale in 2005. To see photos of its installation there and read additional information, please go to http://susanmaytell.com. To learn more about Susan and see her other work, please go to http://www.digitalrailroad.net/susanmaytell/Default.asp