Bielefeld en Bocklemünd Possibly 1939

This scrapbook page, likely from around the time of the Second World War, brings together three separate photographs within a single frame. It is a pretty straightforward documentary style, and yet I am struck by the oddness of the composition. The varying tones of gray create a textured surface, hinting at the unseen hands that carefully arranged these images side by side. The arrow pointing from "Bielefeld" to a seemingly innocuous dog scene makes me think about how we connect disparate moments, how we draw lines between places, people, and events to create our own narratives. I think about the photographer who made this - the framing of the shot, the choice of what to include or exclude - it's all part of the process of meaning-making, of trying to understand and make sense of the world around us. Like Kurt Schwitters, this anonymous artist uses collage to transform mundane materials into a deeply personal and expressive form.