The Erased Spot

work in progress / Videoinstallation

The Erased Spot is an artistic research project based on a family photo from 1946/47. The focus is on a scratched-out spot on my grandmother's face, which opens up a new level of interpretation.

This spot is a new place. Its shape is reminiscent of a geographical landscape or an abstract topography: my grandmother has unconsciously created an (in)graspable space/place that wants to be explored, touched and interpreted.

“The Erased Spot” explores concepts of memory and absence.

After my grandmother, my father and my uncle arrived in Switzerland on the Kastzner transport via the concentration camp Bergen-Belsen, they were separated after the initial registration. This separation was a common procedure. Parents were separated from their children on the grounds that they should first recover from the exhaustion. The photo was taken during a joint visit at the weekend.