Photographers' work in rural areas

About 20 years after World War II, strange concrete sculptures began to rise in Yugoslav villages. Some look a bit like flowers, others like fists, but they are all unique, a fascinating fusion of futuristic design and barbaric elements. Photographer Jonathan "Jonk" Jimenez recorded the process of watching and shooting about 50 sculptures on foot in his new book "Spomeniks", covering a two-year trip across seven countries in southern Europe, with a journey of about 5,000 miles.

Jock told the Smithsonian: "These statues can be isolated sculptures, or they can be part of parks or memorial clusters, including graves, graves or urns that still hold the remains of the people they commemorate." . "There are thousands of people scattered on the territory of Yugoslavia. In the 1980s, they played a very important social role, attracting thousands of tourists every year, especially young pioneers to buy municipal and patriotic education.

"Spemenex" means "monument" in Serbian-Croatian, which means sculpture. Most of them were built in the 1960s and 1970s, under the rule of Yugoslav dictator Josep Broztio, to commemorate the important sites in the long-term struggle with the Nazis decades ago (called the national liberation struggle). Political parties in local cities often order the building to be built to commemorate the dead resistance fighters and civilians. In many cases, local architects designed these structures. In Spool Moennikes, the name, location, architect, folding year and historical background of each monument include photos.

"I like those with strong symbolism," Jock said. "Jasenovac, Podkhum, Zaosrog, Gevgelia, Glijino Bourdaud, Germe? All the monuments are designed with similar flowers. This flower represents the Renaissance and life. There is no doubt that when you consider building these monuments, they are the strongest symbol.

Jock suggested that besides these, everyone should try to see the spire of Spemeninik in Serbian Cosma, which represents the spark of liberation. His other must-see places are Jasenovac in Croatia and Nice in Serbia. Both were built at the site of the previous massacre. Especially in newly independent countries, the shape of the monument is very impressive, like three raised fists, all symbolizing resistance and resistance. But fists are different in size. A man, a woman and a child are all designed to represent families who died in the war.

However, it should be noted that not all historical sites are easy to find, even if you have GPS around you. Some of them are far from the old roads and can only be reached on foot. Other areas, such as Novit Lawnik in Bosnia and Herzegovina, are still mined. But everything else is ready-made, often used for annual celebrations, picnics and even just sunbathing.

Wherever they are, all the monuments will remind us of a very important period in history. "Yugoslavia's experience of confronting (fascism) on the basis of cross-cultural unity, and its failure to retain this memory, as well as its experience of collapsing into revived fascism in the1990s, tell us a lot," Owen Hartley wrote for calvert magazine, saying that these monuments are its concrete legacy to tell us.