Memorial reportage
Finding a place of memory, from 1914-18 or 1940-45.
A place where a regiment once passed, where a battle was fought, where an ancestor fought, changes over the decades. Memorial reportage is about finding these places, sometimes more than a century later, and photographing them today on black-and-white film.
The idea
A regimental photograph, a letter from the front, a war diary, a citation, a commemoration organised by a living-history association: the starting point can be any document or military memento that points to a specific place, even when that place is not always easy to identify more than 80 or 100 years later.
My work is to carry out this research from what you already have, to confirm the place, and then to photograph it with the same rigor as my own personal work documenting the memory of the Liberation of Belgium, carried out since 2008 — including for the many American families whose fathers or grandfathers served there.
What I need to start the research
The more precise the information, the faster and more reliable the research. Anything you can provide is useful, even partial:
- The exact location, if you know it (address, town, place name).
- Failing that, any visible clue in an original photograph: a building, a church spire, a trench, a road, a landform.
- A date or period, as precise as possible.
- The regiment, unit or army corps involved.
- The battle, operation or military context (for example the Battle of the Bulge, the Liberation, a 1918 offensive).
- The names of the people shown in the photograph or mentioned in the account.
- Any photograph, letter, diary or document you are willing to share with me for the research.
A first conversation helps take stock of what is already known and what still needs to be established.
How it works
The research relies on cross-referencing military archives, old and current staff maps, and, if necessary, a site visit, to confirm the location with a reasonable degree of certainty before the shoot.
The photograph is then taken on black-and-white film, developed and printed in my own darkroom. It is delivered to you as a traditional film print, in A5, A4 or A3 size (roughly 6×8, 8×12 or 12×16 in), presented on its own or as a direct echo of the original document, in a then-and-now diptych. A high-resolution scanned version is also provided, solely for quick viewing purposes; the film negative remains the original archive of the image.
For families
Giving concrete form to a place until now only told through stories or glimpsed in a regimental photograph: the exact spot where a grandfather or great-grandfather fought, was wounded or taken prisoner, or lived through a defining episode of the war.
For associations
Documenting a First or Second World War memorial site, illustrating a commemoration, or building a coherent photographic archive to accompany historical research already undertaken by your living-history association.
Confidentiality of the documents you share
The photographs, names and military or family accounts you entrust to me for the research remain strictly private: they are never kept for other purposes, shown to third parties, or published on this site. Learn more.