Mulackstrasse 37: Slide Projection of Former Kosher Butcher Shop and Laundry, 1930, Berlin 1992

Shimon Attie’s photograph captures a 1930s Berlin kosher butcher shop and laundry through a modern lens. The stark presence of the projected image against the decaying facade speaks volumes. The ghostly figure, a woman, perhaps frozen in time, evokes a sense of loss tied to the Holocaust and the erasure of Jewish life in Berlin. The act of projecting the image onto the original site becomes a ritual of remembrance. We see the woman’s silhouette echo in the figures of antiquity, like the draped statues of Roman matrons, figures of memory. This act of projection echoes the ancient practice of evoking ancestral spirits, bridging past and present. There is the psychological weight of absence, the subconscious recognition that something vital has been taken away. The photograph invites us to confront the complex interplay between memory, place, and identity. The woman’s image is not merely a historical record, but a symbol of endurance and the persistence of memory. Just as the snake sheds its skin only to reveal a new one, the meaning of the image will continue to evolve.