25128810 — one of the estimates of Soviet civilian casualties during World War II.

51 black plywood figures — shaped like standard chest targets used for military shooting practice, are placed along the railway near the village of Pogostye. Between January and April 1942, during an unsuccessful offensive, Soviet troops lost around 300,000 men in that area.

51 represents the number of people in a platoon; over three months on that section of the front, a platoon was wiped out every 20 minutes, with one person dying every 20 seconds.

To this day, piles of bones, buried a meter deep on both sides of the railway embankment, are occasionally uncovered during track repairs or the replacement of electrical poles. They are left where they are found or discarded into bushes, with no effort made to identify or properly handle them, as they are simply covered with new concrete poles.

This work reflects the consequence of attempting to erase the bloody price of war from collective consciousness and memory.

Those who prefer to ignore the bones of their ancestors are doomed to search for the bones of their children in the fields.

51 plywood figures, 150 x 50 mm, black oil paint.

Placed on May 8, 2021, at the railway station of Pogostye, Leningrad Region, Russia.

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