Onbekende man op een bankje voor een meer, augustus 1932, Eibsee (Beieren) 1932 - 1938

This is a photograph from August 1932, found in an album of the Wachenheimer family, capturing an unknown man on a bench by the Eibsee in Bavaria. It's a moment frozen in time, a casual scene with a depth that emerges from the tonal variations of the black and white image. The man sits, not posed but present, his form a study in greys against the backdrop of the lake and mountains. It’s the kind of image that lets your mind wander, inventing stories for this stranger. The texture of the photograph itself, its slightly faded surface and delicate edges, adds another layer of meaning. It reminds you of the physical nature of memory, how it’s held in objects that age and change over time. Looking at the tiny jagged edge of the picture within the album, I see how one thing is nestled inside another. Like a Matryoshka doll. And the image is not one thing, but the coming together of many things, as well as the passing of time. Just like the paintings of Gerhard Richter, this picture is about the process of seeing and remembering. It’s about how we create meaning from fragments and traces.