Groepsportret van 17 onbekende mensen, Isabel Wachenheimer en Leo Blumensohn, gezeten op een geblokte vloer en voor een schilderij met bloemenafbeelding

This silver gelatin print captures seventeen people, including Isabel Wachenheimer and Leo Blumensohn, on what looks like a rented set. The palette is all grayscale, focusing our attention on tonal shifts and the physical arrangement of figures. The photo's surface has a slight sheen, and you can see the subtle texture of the paper. The edges are slightly blurred, like a memory fading around the edges, which only adds to the poignancy. Look at the bottom right corner, where the herringbone flooring creates these lovely leading lines. The way these lines fade into darkness reminds me of some of Gerhard Richter's blurry photographs. The whole image has a bittersweet feeling, a sense of community and connection tinged with the knowledge of its impermanence. Just like painting, photography is a kind of alchemy, turning the everyday into something precious.