Afbeeldingen van de woningen van de familie Wachenheimer in Rotterdam (Van Aerssenlaan 22) en Stuttgart (Hauptmannsreute 32), 1937-1938, Rotterdam/Stuttgart 1937 - 1938

This photo album page, made by the Wachenheimer family in Rotterdam and Stuttgart around 1937-38, is like a little window into their lives. It's like peeking into their personal archive. What was it like for them to make these images? Were they thinking about memory, or simply documenting their surroundings? I imagine them carefully choosing each shot, framing their homes as a way of holding onto what was familiar. Each little print is like a brushstroke, together composing a bigger picture. In a way, arranging these photos mirrors the way painters arrange colors on a canvas. You're balancing light and shadow, space and form. It’s about feeling, memory, and the act of preserving something precious in a turbulent time. Like a painter working through layers of paint, the family layers images, creating a narrative that speaks volumes. Artists keep building on what came before, and maybe the Wachenheimer family were artists too, in their own way.