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For some time now, I have worked with themes of time and memory, and looked how these relate to places, people and objects in our present day environment. How does a place in the present relate to the same place in the past? How do I relate to these places? And how do those who inhabitant the past relate to those of us living today? The same questions can be asked of people and objects: How does an object in the present relate to the same object in the past...? And so on. In trying to answer these questions, I've started to consider the definition of place - what exactly constitutes place aside from geographic location? Time and memory must be factors in any definition, along with individual perspective. Having visited the site of Auschwitz-Birkenau in October 2006, much of my recent work has centred around its place in the present day landscape. By investigating and exploring the physical site and its tragic provenance, I feel I'm better placed to examine the broader themes outlined above: Place (Auschwitz-Birkenau as a place), People (those who lived and died in the camp) and Objects (possessions left by, or stolen from, those who perished there). Since visiting the sites of the Majdanek concentration camp and the death camp of Belzec in May 2007, my interest in the Holocaust has extended to include these and other, as yet, unvisited sites. I have become interested in how such places, burdened by their appalling pasts are managed, not only as cemeteries, but as memorials, places of pilgrimage and, for want of a more appropriate phrase, tourist attractions.

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