The Czech Republic is one of the richest countries with regard to Jewish sites and artifacts. Spared from major bombing during World War II, Prague and the surrounding countryside contain over three hundred buildings and burial sites, and represent the largest vestige of Jewish culture and heritage found in Central and Eastern Europe.

Neil Anderson, an Associate Professor in Horticultural Science at the University of Minnesota, and I met as Fulbright Scholars in the Czech Republic during 2010. Together with Neil’s husband, Mark Gilquist, we set out to explore a number of cemeteries during 2010-2011 (and later, just Lynn and Neil in 2015), each with their own particular agenda.

While Neil recorded the native, non-native and/or invasive plant species thriving in the cemeteries, I explored the periphery of these sites. The ubiquitous stone wall covered in ivy is a common feature that indicates the presence of a Jewish burial ground. What particularly struck me were the details of the environment found next to these walls including trees and fields, adjacent buildings, fences, signs, and roads.

The individual photographs should be viewed as part of a larger work. Coursing through the towns and countryside, the presence of these cemetery walls serves as a historical marker in the surrounding landscape.

In addition to my photographs, the exhibition also includes live plants and bulbs, Neil’s documentation of plant species, and several of Mark’s iPhone images.

The Czech Republic is one of the richest countries with regard to Jewish sites and artifacts. Spared from major bombing during World War II, Prague and the surrounding countryside contain over three hundred buildings and burial sites, and represent the largest vestige of Jewish culture and heritage found in Central and Eastern Europe.

Neil Anderson, an Associate Professor in Horticultural Science at the University of Minnesota, and I met as Fulbright Scholars in the Czech Republic during 2010. Together with Neil’s husband, Mark Gilquist, we set out to explore a number of cemeteries during 2010-2011 (and later, just Lynn and Neil in 2015), each with their own particular agenda.

While Neil recorded the native, non-native and/or invasive plant species thriving in the cemeteries, I explored the periphery of these sites. The ubiquitous stone wall covered in ivy is a common feature that indicates the presence of a Jewish burial ground. What particularly struck me were the details of the environment found next to these walls including trees and fields, adjacent buildings, fences, signs, and roads.

The individual photographs should be viewed as part of a larger work. Coursing through the towns and countryside, the presence of these cemetery walls serves as a historical marker in the surrounding landscape.

In addition to my photographs, the exhibition also includes live plants and bulbs, Neil’s documentation of plant species, and several of Mark’s iPhone images.

As Simon Schama explored in Landscape and Memory, national identity and landscape have always been intertwined. For Americans, the incredible geographical diversity that one encounters throughout the country is an ongoing subject for artists and storytellers. My ambition is to photograph cemeteries in all fifty states, in both rural and urban settings. Withholding place names for the cemeteries allows for a greater range of associations. Indeed some of the cemeteries I photographed actually straddle national or state boundaries. Such political boundaries are subsumed by the continuity of the landscape.

Time can be felt in the quickly moving cars, trucks and trains, and in the condition of the fences surrounding the site as well as the age of trees located inside and outside the cemetery. As much as a gravestone commemorates the passing of an individual, when viewed against the backdrop of a diverse and ever-changing world, this very same headstone can also function as a commemorative marker for the land itself and the presence of human activity over time.

The Czech Republic is one of the richest countries with regard to Jewish sites and artifacts. Spared from major bombing during World War II, Prague and the surrounding countryside contain over three hundred buildings and burial sites, and represent the largest vestige of Jewish culture and heritage found in Central and Eastern Europe.

Neil Anderson, an Associate Professor in Horticultural Science at the University of Minnesota, and I met as Fulbright Scholars in the Czech Republic during 2010. Together with Neil’s husband, Mark Gilquist, we set out to explore a number of cemeteries during 2010-2011 (and later, just Lynn and Neil in 2015), each with their own particular agenda.

While Neil recorded the native, non-native and/or invasive plant species thriving in the cemeteries, I explored the periphery of these sites. The ubiquitous stone wall covered in ivy is a common feature that indicates the presence of a Jewish burial ground. What particularly struck me were the details of the environment found next to these walls including trees and fields, adjacent buildings, fences, signs, and roads.

The individual photographs should be viewed as part of a larger work. Coursing through the towns and countryside, the presence of these cemetery walls serves as a historical marker in the surrounding landscape.

In addition to my photographs, the exhibition also includes live plants and bulbs, Neil’s documentation of plant species, and several of Mark’s iPhone images.

As Simon Schama explored in Landscape and Memory, national identity and landscape have always been intertwined. For Americans, the incredible geographical diversity that one encounters throughout the country is an ongoing subject for artists and storytellers. My ambition is to photograph cemeteries in all fifty states, in both rural and urban settings. Withholding place names for the cemeteries allows for a greater range of associations. Indeed some of the cemeteries I photographed actually straddle national or state boundaries. Such political boundaries are subsumed by the continuity of the landscape.

Time can be felt in the quickly moving cars, trucks and trains, and in the condition of the fences surrounding the site as well as the age of trees located inside and outside the cemetery. As much as a gravestone commemorates the passing of an individual, when viewed against the backdrop of a diverse and ever-changing world, this very same headstone can also function as a commemorative marker for the land itself and the presence of human activity over time.

As Simon Schama explored in Landscape and Memory, national identity and landscape have always been intertwined. For Americans, the incredible geographical diversity that one encounters throughout the country is an ongoing subject for artists and storytellers. My ambition is to photograph cemeteries in all fifty states, in both rural and urban settings. Withholding place names for the cemeteries allows for a greater range of associations. Indeed some of the cemeteries I photographed actually straddle national or state boundaries. Such political boundaries are subsumed by the continuity of the landscape.

Time can be felt in the quickly moving cars, trucks and trains, and in the condition of the fences surrounding the site as well as the age of trees located inside and outside the cemetery. As much as a gravestone commemorates the passing of an individual, when viewed against the backdrop of a diverse and ever-changing world, this very same headstone can also function as a commemorative marker for the land itself and the presence of human activity over time.

As Simon Schama explored in Landscape and Memory, national identity and landscape have always been intertwined. For Americans, the incredible geographical diversity that one encounters throughout the country is an ongoing subject for artists and storytellers. My ambition is to photograph cemeteries in all fifty states, in both rural and urban settings. Withholding place names for the cemeteries allows for a greater range of associations. Indeed some of the cemeteries I photographed actually straddle national or state boundaries. Such political boundaries are subsumed by the continuity of the landscape.

Time can be felt in the quickly moving cars, trucks and trains, and in the condition of the fences surrounding the site as well as the age of trees located inside and outside the cemetery. As much as a gravestone commemorates the passing of an individual, when viewed against the backdrop of a diverse and ever-changing world, this very same headstone can also function as a commemorative marker for the land itself and the presence of human activity over time.

For over a decade, I have been photographing cemeteries across the US and the Czech Republic. The landscapes surrounding these burial grounds are of particular interest to me. Another aspect of this project is exploring the places that people choose to have their ashes scattered. In regard to the issues of time and claiming a parcel of land, the scattering of ashes marks the presence of someone in a very transient way, in contrast to a more permanent headstone.