As the Blackbird died twice
by Ragna Arndt Maric
University of Applied Sciences Europe, Berlin/Hamburg, GermanyGraduation year: 2020
portfolio special mention call 'URBANAUTICA INSTITUTE AWARDS 2020', 2020
Category: Memories and Traditions
What do a family whose son fell during the First World War, young air force helpers of the Third Reich, a jewish family that survived the Holocaust and I have in common?
We all shared the same rooms and home at different moments in time; not knowing each other. What tales do homes tell? I photographically dealt with this question in the staged series „As the Blackbird died twice“. As part of my work, in addition to research, I was able to meet the son of the jewish family and talk to him about his memories.
A dead blackbird, the European songbird, serves as a metaphor for the two world wars that emanated from Germany. Then as now, Europe argues about for whom it wants to be a home and impends to break apart again because of this task.
With fewer and fewer eyewitnesses being able to report these world wars and more and more people wanting to banish the meaning and impact of this era of European history from the collective memory, it is nowadays more important than ever to keep these memories alive.