The
Hereafter and the Here Now, Part II is an exhibition of contemporary photos
which show pictures of a German woman’s treasured possessions in the 1930s
displayed in Wellington homes.
The
seed of this idea was planted during Petra’s part of the ornament/artefact
exhibition at Toi Pōneke in April last year when she exhibited photos that her
grandmother had taken in Germany in the 1930s of some of her belongings.
Petra
then invited exhibition visitors to take a print of her Grandmother’s pictures
home and send her back a photo of it in its new environment. The pictures that
visitors took home are now hanging on walls in kitchens and living rooms, or
stuck to a fridge with magnets.
Petra’s
grandmother took her photos in response to Hitler’s promise that there would be
compensation for all German citizens whose property was destroyed or lost as a
consequence of military hostilities. Her grandmother gathered a few items that
were valuable to her for various reasons and took some photographs to document
their existence.
The
grandparents’ house was destroyed in a bombing raid, and there was no
indemnity.
Petra
says: “All that remained were the pictures. Now, these items live on as prints
in new homes. They’ve been re-settled among various other objects in different
spaces. Some of the new owners placed their prints in artistic settings to take
photos, some are straight forward.”
The
images that people sent back to Petra have become the focus of her new
exhibition.
“They’ve
all became important parts of a bigger idea, where objects became images, and
images are turned into objects. These pictures, taken in a specific moment of
German history, ask a clear question: how far do they resonate?
“I
want to thank every participant of this project. Without their responses the
second part of this work would not have been possible.”
The
Hereafter and the Here Now, Part II exhibition opens at Toi Pōneke on 26 August
until 17 September.