Along the Narew River explores my Jewish heritage and family history. The series of solarised images alludes to the natural landscapes of Eastern Europe, imagining a journey along the river that my great-grandfather often recalled from his childhood. The project was inspired by a desire to learn more about my family’s life before the Holocaust - a history that is largely unknown to me. In the words of Henri Raczymow, who strongly influenced this project: “Whose graves can we go visit? What hall of records can we consult? Everything was burned.”

In response to this absence, I have attempted to create images that could stand in for those that were lost. The solarisation demonstrates the inaccessibility of this past: by halting the development process and re-exposing the image to light, the effect conveys a sense of disruption and incompletion. This mirrors the way my family’s lives were violently interrupted by the Nazis, preventing their stories from being transmitted through generations.

Ultimately, Along the Narew River seeks to highlight the long-term impacts of genocide, using solarised landscapes to evoke an elusive and fragmented family history.

Along the Narew River | Project Statement

Noam Dee

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