
An artistic approach to remembrance [prototype]
My research addresses the power of storytelling. I want to look at how storytelling works as a form of archiving and how it helps people process traumas and work through socially unspoken issues. I argue that how and what we remember is important, not to forget the past, but to influence the present.
This prototype is an example of an artistic interpretation of a conversation with an eyewitness. The conversation and the letter were part of the project ERBEESSEN, about the victims of nazi murders of people with disabilities and diseases.
I decided to use the method of a photo collage. It is made of ready-made pictures as backgrounds and figures in the style of shadow play and silhouettes. Using pictures and linking them to text in letter form is an attempt at a simple approach to a difficult subject. The prototype was also written as an Instagram series to be accessible to young people and to enable a dialogue on the platform on the topic. The prototype does not answer how web archiving, e.g. on Instagram, influences the type and form of remembering. However, this is a potential continuing research question.
One instagram post can be found here.
























Notes
1) The letter and the ready-made background pictures 7-9 (showing sandstone wall and gate) were created within the project ERBEESSEN in collaboration with Valentina Eimer
2) The first ready-made background showing the sanatorium is a photo by Harald Sippel (1.11.2020, https://www.nordbayern.de)