Gerda Kühn (1994)

Gerda Kühn was an old friend of the familiy, a heirloom of my grandmother. She used to spend christmas with us since I was a kid. She had been a teacher and could tell great stories. The stories tended to be the same stories each christmas, but since she told them so entertaining, no one minded. She also had a well-developed vain streak, so when I asked her, did she mind if I took some photos of her for one of my images, she didn't mind a bit.

When I finished with the template, and did the first images, I thought, wow, I start to become really good at this. Everything I had learned up to this point came together in these images. What also helped was that she was an old person: lots of wrinkles meant lots of life meant lots of connections on the template.

Half a year after finishing this one, I got a job offer from Ireland. I took some photos with me that I planned to work on while being there. It took me well over a year to finish the following works, mainly because other things were more important for me now, but also because it proved to be incredibly difficult to find the right materials.

In hindsight, this job offer interrupted the run I had had, and it would take me 15 years to pick it up again.

Gerda Kühn: Template

Gerda Kühn (70 x 100 cm): From a nice old lady...

...to an image of death.