Matthew Moore: Post-Socialist Landscapes

Moore was an artist-in-residence at the Vilnius Academy of Arts’ Nida Art Colony in Lithuania in 2014. His current project was born as an investigation of the rural and urban landscapes of countries that were once occupied by the Soviet Union. The photographic images tell the story of the various ways societies and local governments seek to control their history and influence the future through manipulation of the land and urban space. 

While some cultures go to great lengths to eradicate reminders of their unwanted past, others are willing to let it slowly disintegrate. Some societies even leave purposeful reminders of a painful past in an attempt to keep history from repeating itself. Regardless of the strategy, our history is recorded in the landscape. Each new layer tells an important story about the way our history, and even our memory, is shaped by human intervention.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website