De 'jaja', de kinderjuffrouw van de familie Wesenhagen, de 'nenne' 1900 - 1920

Here is a vintage photograph of De 'jaja', the nanny of the Wesenhagen family. The person who took this picture probably wasn't thinking about paint or gesture. I'm guessing they were preoccupied with trying to record and preserve an image of a person they cared about, in the best way they knew how. But let’s try to imagine ourselves in the studio together, working on this as a painting! I'm immediately drawn to the nanny's printed dress and matching headwrap – the repetitive floral patterns seem so alive. I can see myself working the ground, remixing the motifs, making them denser, more chaotic, more intimate. And what about her hands, gently resting on the plinth? I can feel the urge to smear the lines, soften the edges, and make the colours bleed. It's funny, isn't it? How one person's photograph becomes another person's painting, and how art always leads us into unexpected places, across different times and media.