An Apparition of Memory

In my unique photographic process, dried, mundane flowers—affixed on old diapositive glasses—replace the photo emulsion and thus become delicate photographs. «An Apparition of Memory» is a homage to the beauty of aging and the passage of time. I am deeply touched by the beauty of the flowers that have passed their time, the ones, that are considered waste in our society. The images reveal the astonishing details of nature's sophisticated constructions, explore the fragility of life and our relationship with memory. I merge the ephemeral nature of a light drawing with the preservation of a photograph using a fusion of analog and digital  technologies. I do not categorize the flowers but try to go beyond it and transform every flower into something unique. It is like taking a portrait of an individual being who has a story to tell. The titles, drawn from TV, novels, poems, expand the works' readings, hinting at transient narratives. I have worked on this process-oriented work since 2019.
For the series «An Apparition of Memory» I started to collect flowers that I stumble upon along the road that leads to my studio and let them dry. Like a scientist I fix the found flowers to old diapositive glasses leaving them in salty or calcareous water to dry. Under a shroud of kalk and salt crystals the flowers literally get dried onto the slides and become the photo emulsion. They become diapositives.
I am fascinated by the passing of time, the tenderness of withering and wilting, and the beauty of decay. I am deeply touched by the beauty of the flowers that have passed their time, the ones, that are considered waste in our society. My images circle around the paradox that lies at the bottom of photography by making us aware of the inescapable passage of time while photography as a technical medium was actually intended to preserve life.
Or as Yuri Mitsuda writes about the work: "Due to their almost tangible finesse, I wonder if these are real flowers. Or are they rather intricate creations made of weightless particles of light?»