Marko Lipuš embarked with his camera upon the project of tracing the footsteps of his grandmother Marija Karničar, killed in Ravensbrück concentration camp in February 1945, just before the end of the war. Right there, at the scene of the slaughter, the artist faced the events and took pictures of what was left. His intention was to get closer to his grandmother, her history and her destiny – through the environment, the landscape, though still extant buildings as well as the ruins, through visible spaces and still existing objects. Other than the personal, the artist with his exhibition and the publication points to the general tragedy experienced by thousands of women killed by Nazis.

“The series Babica is a historically subjective, artistic approach to the theme. This photographic work is a tribute to all victims of the Nazi regime left without their graves; it is a tribute to the culture of remembering.  Symbolically, Babica is the voice of all people, mainly women, transported and killed in Ravensbrück, intent on preserving their memories that their stories do not fall into oblivion. By not having a grave, the victims of the National Socialism regime are left to complete erasure (a physical erasure, the absence of a grave additionally compromises remembering), which is what the photos seek to prevent. In this project, I see my grandmother as a symbol for thousands of other women.” (M. Lipuš)

In tandem with the Babica exhibition project, a homonymous monograph was published by the Austrian Residenz Verlag. The book is available in the bookshop of the Photon Gallery.