Scheveningen, voorjaar 1943 Possibly 1943 - 1944

This anonymously made photo album page from 1943, in Scheveningen, is full of snapshots of sailors. It's like flipping through someone's personal, very small, exhibition. The monochrome palette gives it a documentary feel, yet the handwritten captions scrawled across the page turn it into something deeply intimate. I love how the photos, each a tiny rectangle, are carefully arranged, like brushstrokes on a canvas. Look at the way each photograph is lightly adhered to the page, as if it were floating. Each photograph tells a story, yet the process of selection, of who and what to include, tells another story again, about memory, history, and the everyday. It reminds me of Gerhard Richter’s “Atlas”, a personal archive of photographs that become something else, something greater, than the sum of their parts. It’s a poignant reminder that art isn't just about grand statements; it's often found in the quiet, unassuming moments.