Familie en vrienden 1941 - 1942

This old photo album page, name unknown, is a real window into the past. I can imagine someone carefully arranging these photos, each a little moment frozen in time, onto the grey page. What were they thinking when they decided on the layout? Did they pause, considering the weight of each memory? The matching portraits, side-by-side at the bottom, have a formal rigidity about them, while the candids at the top show daily life. I think of the many unknown artists who made family albums with their personal selection of images. Arranging photos like this is a way of thinking about their lives, giving significance to the people they hold dear, and, like any artwork, it shows a desire to make sense of chaos, to bring order to an otherwise busy world. Making your own image archive is a lovely conversation with the world and the people in it.