Isabel Wachenheimer in de tuin van de woning van de familie Wachenheimer aan de Hauptmannsreute met haar ouders Else Wachenheimer-Moos en Eugen Wachenheimer, 1936-1937, Stuttgart 1936 - 1937

This photograph was taken by a member of the Wachenheimer family in Stuttgart, sometime between 1936 and 1937, of Isabel Wachenheimer with her parents in their garden. Looking at this image, I imagine the act of documenting these ordinary moments of a family's life in their garden. It's hard to imagine what was going through their minds at the time, the small gestures and daily habits that made up their life. But I can sense the desire to record and preserve fleeting moments of joy and connection amidst uncertainty. The surface of the photograph is small, matte, and intimate. It draws you in closer to try and examine the fine details of their faces and clothing. I think of other artists who work with memory and history, like Gerhard Richter, whose blurred photos create a sense of distance and loss, or Christian Boltanski, who uses found photographs to evoke the fragility of human existence. I like the spontaneity, the embrace of uncertainty, allowing for different readings.