What's left behind

On Elisabeth Czihak’s photo piece “Absence“

Photography is a silent medium. It articulates itself only through images. If there is no information that identifies or texts that comment, one single shot says absolutely nothing to the viewer if he or she is not familiar with the motif. Some photographers respond to this specific quality of the medium by making sequences or series. They want to let photography speak for itself. You only have to concentrate on the differences between the images.

The view of house entrances, apartment doors and room sections in an empty standing building does not make for more than a succinct model of equal spaces. Pictorial language has accomodated itself to the object. On closer scrutiny, a small world of the everyday life of the earlier residents unfolds. Children scribble matchstick men on the wall. A sketch shows how quickly the kids grow up. The traces of dirt on the light switch don’t bother anyone. The orange curtain in the bathroom looks pretty cool. We save space with the board in the corner; here’s where “Diaby lives“- I find the stickers you put on the door of the fridge look nice. Plugs can be mounted at any height…

Elisabeth Czihak points to traces about which we can tell ourselves a story.

Timm Starl, 2008