2006 / In the course of my research, I became aware of the many thousands of Jews—both fleeing civilians and resistance fighters—who were forced to hide in the forests of Poland. If discovered, they were shot where found and buried in mass graves. By 1944, between 70,000 and 100,000 Jews had been murdered in the Ponary Forest, near Vilna. Today, dozens of mass graves remain undiscovered in Polish forests. But in documentary photographs, I found the contrast between the corpses and the peaceful settings to be especially haunting, and I decided to make this piece.