FORGOTTEN

About the Forgotten Project

Trest, Czech Republic, 2023

The lure of the abandoned building. 

We may pass by it every day wondering what is inside and why it was abandoned. Our interest piqued just enough to pose these questions but our adult apprehension of everything dark and unknown stopping us from ever satisfying this curiosity.

I realized a child’s perception is much different. 

Upon first discovering the abandoned compound behind our house, my then four year old daughter acted on her first impulse - explore. 

Disobeying, she ran inside. I had to follow.

The anteroom was cramped, filled with bright sun light and harsh shadows. The floor was uncrossable, littered with shards of broken glass, tall piles of mysterious plastic cylinders, crumpled papers with bank transfers and vet bills everywhere. Mismatched rubber boots, strewn haphazardly about the small room, emphasized the deep sense of abandon. As I looked on the treasure of discarded items speaking of a more prosperous time, I wondered what prompted such a quick exit. 

Two steps led me to an enormous hall which provided a stark contrast to the small anteroom. It was pitch black, periodically punctuated with beams of glaring light from holes in the ceiling where the roof had collapsed. When my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I was startled to see a row of nooses running the length of the barn like space. A maze of tubing on the walls vaguely reminded me of the swastika. Unbidden, my mind brought forward black and white images of war history. 

My daughter, on the other hand, her mind unencumbered, was fascinated by her discovery of a “new playground”.

She brought toys. I brought a camera. 

Soon we had a daily routine of exploring the compound. She, speeding on her hand-me-down bike wearing a princess dress tucked under a winter jacket to combat the frigid temperatures. Me, I could never shake the overall sense of unease. 

Perhaps my feelings of foreboding stemmed from the fact that this used to be a chicken processing plant. It seemed like the building remembered its previous purpose, the slaughter imbedded in its structure. Purely reacting to its energy, engaging my imagination, I indulged in exploring the feelings the space invoked in me - irrational fear mingling with intrigue, all shrouded in mystery. All of it, encapsulating me, as if being inside a strange day-dream with no prospect of escape.