Exercitie 1940 - 1943

This is a black and white photograph pasted into an album page. The images show a group of soldiers engaged in military exercises, set against a backdrop of barren trees. The composition is neat, a bit like a grid, and the scenes capture moments of order and repetition – lines of soldiers, stiff poses, and a certain grimness. I wonder about the person who put this collection together. It feels like a personal archive, not meant for public view. What was the intention? A memento of service? Or something else entirely? The careful arrangement suggests a desire to make sense of these scenes, to give them a narrative, even if it remains unspoken. It makes me think about other artists who have used photography to document and reflect on conflict, from Gerhard Richter to Sophie Ristelhueber. Like them, this artist is grappling with history and its impact on individual lives. The act of pasting and arranging becomes a way of processing, of bearing witness.