Disability History Month 2024: Richard Wood on documenting forgotten chapters of history
- Written byStudent Communications
- Published date 12 December 2024
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Richard Wood is a graduate of the MA Photojournalism and Documentary Photography (Online) course at London College of Communication. We caught up with him this Disability History Month to discuss his Showcase project, ‘A Dark Road Without Horizon’. From 1939-1945, The Nazi regime was responsible for the murder of between 200,000 and 300,000 disabled German citizens. The code name given to the programme was Aktion T4 and Richard describes his project as a “body of photographic work [that] documents and explores each of the sites” of these atrocities.
Can you please introduce yourself?
I graduated from MA Photojournalism and Documentary Photography (Online) earlier this year, having completed my BA in Documentary Photography back in 2003 at Newport University.
I currently work as a manager at an Architectural Design practice in Cardiff, so for me the online MA option was a wonderful opportunity to return to academic study while maintaining a full-time position at work.
Outside of my documentary practice, I’ve been lucky enough to photograph lots of touring bands and comedians for various publications, labels and promotional materials.
When did your interest in photography begin and why did you want to pursue it as a career?
In 1999 I began a foundation course at UWIC in Cardiff and despite having a passion for art, I quickly became frustrated with my difficulties conveying the image in my head to the canvas or the page. I dug out an old Praktica MTL3 camera that I had bought from a junk shop, and regardless of it not being in the best working order, I decided to try and figure out how to use it. It didn't go too well; I dropped it when the ancient camera strap broke. My girlfriend at the time took pity on me and surprised me with a new Canon SLR.
My tutor at UWIC, Gareth Roberts, had been a commercial photographer, and he gave me some pointers and lots of encouragement, along with the key to an unused darkroom at the college. I fell in love with the process immediately. I know it’s a bit of a cliché but the magic of shooting and developing your first few rolls of film and learning to print the results was captivating.
Being in the pre-digital age, film was pretty cheap at the time, and so I spent the next year taking lots of pictures and working on my printing skills. Eventually, I approached the local office of the Big Issue to show my early portfolio and to see if they needed any photographers. I was shooting my first gig the very next evening, I’ve been taking pictures in some capacity or another ever since.
What inspired you to create the project ‘A Dark Road Without Horizon’?
My daughter has learning difficulties and in one of my many searches for support and help on Google, I came across an article about the Aktion T4 murders. For me, the impact was seismic. It was impossible to not project us into that time frame and what horrific implications it could have had on our little family. I had not heard of the T4 program before, or its relevance, methodology and repercussions when considering the wider Holocaust. I became quite obsessed with this almost forgotten chapter of history and began researching as much as I could find out about it.
I chose to focus my first-year project submission on T4 and visited the hospital site at Hadamar in southern Germany, the resulting images and audio recordings formed a short, exploratory film. The film consisted of images taken at the Hadamar site, archive footage from Pathe news reels and National Socialist propaganda films. Through the course of the research I discovered a play, 'All our children' by Stephen Unwin, I emailed Stephen, and he became an enthusiastic contributor to the work, offering me permission to use sections of the text in the project. This can be heard in the resulting short film 'The Quiet Blueprint' as narrated by my classmate Anna Kroeger and my friend Christian Schulte-loh.
Having attained a distinction in your degree, what impact did your studies have on your creative practice?
Huge, utterly defining and a complete revolution to my practice. The opportunity to combine my love of history and specifically the history and ramifications of conflict was something that I had been considering for some time, the Online MA at LCC became the perfect vehicle to pursue this. Exploring texts that were new to me in the History and Theory class with Selina Chen, really opened up a new way of thinking about the import, subtexts and interpretations of images. This in turn allowed me slow down, previsualise and formulate considered approaches to projects as whole.
In the realisation of ‘A Dark Road Without Horizon’ I had a clear idea of the kind of images I wished to create. To place the viewer into the point of view of the victim and the perpetrator, to develop a glimpsed journey through each Aktion T4 site, constraining framing to the viewpoint of only the immediate. The final presentation of the work was informed by the monolithic nature of the monuments throughout Germany and Austria, the materiality of blue glass and rusted steel, such as the work by Richard Serra in Berlin, and the windows looking into and out of the spaces at each T4 site.
The very real, enthusiastic and supportive level of engagement from Alethia Casey and her team at LCC and my class peer group is something that I have not experienced before, it really is very special and has provided me with the skills and confidence to approach projects that I would previously would not have known how to instigate.
I got to work closely with Paul Lowe as my tutor over the course of the project, his enthusiasm, support and encouragement was wonderful. Getting to create a project under the guidance of someone whose photographic and written work has been such an influence on me was an incredible privilege.
I understand that project is the culmination of 1 and a half year’s work of research and travel. Can you talk us through the stages of this work?
After completing the first-year project, the experience of the Hadamar site stayed with me. I was happy with the work, but I felt I needed to do more and explore the wider scope of the T4 murders. I decided to create a photographic and diarised account of a complete journey to each of the six sites in Germany and Austria for my final major project.
There's not a huge amount of material out there on T4, especially in English, so piecing the research elements together was quite difficult. Two excellent texts I did find were 'Death and Deliverance' by Michael Burleigh and 'The Origins of Nazi Genocide' by Henry Friedlander - I recommend these to anyone wanting to learn more about Aktion T4.
Arriving at each site proved a stark difference to the many hours of travel, google maps glitches, train network disruption panic and trepidation of what the next T4 facility experience would bring. I was given access to sensitive areas at the sites that are normally closed to visitors and was guided through record rooms and archives. It was a privilege to be treated as a researcher and colleague by local historians and experts. Some of the sites now hold collections of the images in their archives, and I keep in touch with a few of the staff at the various locations.
The traveling and photographic elements were completed by mid-April 2024 and my attention turned to the presentation of the work. I wanted the final piece to be a journey of discovery for the viewer. I sourced archive envelopes that I had seen in the T4 documents storage room and within each envelope I placed six images, maps of the journey and a typed-up transcript of the handwritten diaries that I had kept throughout the project. An A2 archive box was lined with folded rusted steel plates, on top of this is a large concertina book that is bound with further steel plates, this contains several images and details of victim statistics. The final layer of the box holds copies and translations of contemporary propaganda posters. Images and a synopsis of Aktion T4 are hidden within the folds, and finally the box is tightly wrapped in fabric to represent the autopsy table at Hadamar. The viewer is tasked with having to physically cut the bindings to discover the contents.
What considerations do you keep in mind when photographing the site of such atrocities?
Do as much research as you possibly can before stepping into any space that has witnessed such horrific crimes. To be forearmed with the dry facts and figures, dates and times etc. allows you to be fully present, absorbing not only the physical elements of what is before you, but also to mentally play out events in the spaces in which they occurred. Many of the T4 murder spaces are claustrophobic and incredibly oppressive, I was acutely aware of standing on the floor of a gas chamber or furnace room, the instinct to leave, to get outside is overwhelming, so be prepared to take moments of reflection and continue creating the images.
I would say that it is important to capture the truth of the scene to the best of your capacity, not to sensationalise, but to relay, while striving to maintain dignity and respect for the victims. I tried to approach each location in almost a forensic capacity, taking images that detailed elements that I thought would best represent the crime that had been committed; however, it just is not possible, empathy and emotion often overtake. The journey through the T4 sites has remained with me and I think about it most days. There are many ethical considerations to take into account when photographing a site of atrocity, especially when there are no longer any representatives to tell their story. I cannot provide individual testimony from the victims, I can, however, provide my personal testimony to the memory of the victims.
What are the advantages of using photography as a tool for teaching history?
For me, using photography as a tool to illustrate historical events is incredibly powerful. It creates an immediate, visually documented connection to the event being described. Looking at the images from 'A Dark Road Without Horizon' they present a solemnity, solitude and stillness. Written descriptors further illustrate the facilities, crimes committed and statistical elements, however, without the visual record, they would not have the same impact. The photographs act as a catalyst for discussion and engagement from the viewer, opening the possibilities for further study and investigation.
Where can readers see more of your work?
The final presentation piece is now held in the Historical Special Collections at the LCC library, Photomonitor recently posted a description and collection of images from the project and I have a website where you can see the film of Paul Lowe opening the project. Finally, you can follow me on Instagram to see more of my work.