Peace in Darkness
ALUMNI & FRIENDS | For photographer Jeffrey Steen, AS69, ANR75, the grim ruins of Auschwitz-Birkenau retain a visual power that remind us of the over 1 million individuals murdered there. He has returned five times in five years, framing his photographs around the concrete, wood and iron structures of that not-too-distant time.
“I tried to look at the camp, not in a clinical way, but as the prisoners might have,” he says. “This isn’t an old, dusty place,” he adds. “It is the brick-and-mortar manifestation of hatred and extreme colonial ambition.”
For Steen, three is value in continuing the conversation about the vulnerability of individuals to the abuse of power. And there is also a measure of peace, knowing he can help the people of this camp stay alive in our thoughts.
For more photographs by Jeffrey Steen, visit www.steengalleries.com.
