The research paper “My present is more than I remember” explores the entanglements of word and image and their role in constructing memory and identity. Drawing on my four-year practice at the KABK, it analyses the methods I have developed. The paper examines the interrelation between memory, photography, and writing and investigates how visual memory is reflected in artistic and literary works. It explores the parallels between the construction of memory and the construction of photographs in terms of (in) authenticity. Just as photography can never represent the essence of a person, memory will never be able to represent the full truth of the past.
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Delving into personal memories and intergenerational connections within my family, I seek to understand how inherited experiences and stories shape my personal and artistic identity. In this search, I let myself be guided by the act of weaving as a concept and a material. Furthermore, the paper examines the existential role of collective and familial memory in shaping Jewish and German- Jewish identity. The research paper consists of fragmented subchapters divided into two sections. It uses a range of texts and styles, including sociological and art-historical theories from authors such as Maurice Halbwachs, Roland Barthes, and Marianne Hirsch, as well as experimental diary entries, poems, and personal anecdotes.
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In summary, “My present is more than I remember” aims to explore the impacts of word and image on collective and individual memory, as well as their influence on my German-Jewish identity.