Memory Lab venue in Luxembourg at Cercle 2015

The photographs of this exhibition refer  – when you consider history – to very different conflicts: Its the trenches of the first world war that are the subject of Jonathan Olley’s photographs. Henning Rogge is spotting the remaining craters of the Second World War in the German provinces. What these works have in common – if you compare with the photographs of Tatiana Lecomte and Sarah Schoenfeld – is that all images refer to conflicts that are not really or only partially visible in the image. Nothing evokes the barbarity of war unless it solicits the memory and historical knowledge of the visitor. Even recent history through photos of Attila Flozsmann (the conflict in Libya) or the tapestries or “knit-wear “ of Tania Boukal ( she evokes the uprisings in Arab countries or the situation of the immigrants or war refugees ) only point to events and conflicts rather than openly addressing them as would do a war photographer or correspond. These images track reality; but their power resides on the capacity to kindle emotions should we fail to remember what happened.