Portret van T.F. Oehler en zijn dochters Possibly 1938

This is a spread from an anonymous photo album that includes ‘Portret van T.F. Oehler en zijn dochters’. I love how, on the grey page, the images are arranged like shapes in a composition. The borders of the photographs create a framing device. The jagged edges contrast with the flat support, bringing to my mind the cut-and-paste techniques used by artists like Hannah Hoch. The handwritten notes make the image plane come alive. What was the artist thinking when creating this layout? What story was being told? What considerations and intentions were at play? The intimacy of the album format invites a tactile interaction and a sense of personal connection, as if we're leafing through someone's private memories. As painters know, the exchange of ideas across time inspires creativity. Here, photography and writing form a kind of embodied expression. There’s a space for ambiguity, which allows for multiple interpretations.