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The events of the WWII Holocaust and the subsequent Soviet regime left their mark on the people and landscape of Central and Eastern Europe and the children of Holocaust survivors, including Kantor.
In the summer of 2004, Kantor volunteered to be part of a reclamation project in Plaszow, a former Nazi labor camp situated in the city of Krakow, Poland. During her time there, she began researching the whereabouts of her immediate family who had perished during the Holocaust. At that time she embarked on her journey into Eastern Europe’s narrative of destruction, which dealt more specifically with death, absence and the remains of life. Her journey began in Treblinka and Auschwitz, from where she looked for life, instead of death, leading her to document contemporary rituals of Jewish life and vitality in areas still populated by Jewish communities.
The photographs in this series capture monuments of the destruction – real, imaginary, and metaphorical. These works were created between 2002-2005 during several trips to Czech Republic, Poland, and Ukraine. The artist used several camera formats and printed the works using the platinum palladium process, a printing method using precious metals, hand-coated paper, and careful attention to detail. This process complements and enhances the story of time, memory and place that is embedded in the works.
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