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(Re) the construction of an intimate and personal story through self-portraits: "Familie werden" ("Becoming a Family"). The author collected 5 German family albums at a flea market in Berlin and 5 albums of Japanese families at online auctions. One condition is that they contain over 100 family photos, so you can fully understand family background such as family structure, time and place. The author chose 1-2 photos from each family, in which you can clearly see the subject of photography. Pictures that seem to say: "This is my family", "This is who I am". The author considered the memories of this family and decided to "become" a family from a photo. She was looking for clothes and objects that were as close as possible to the originals from photographs. Sometimes she made costumes and props herself. She swarmed photos - playing each role personally - in studios, in similar-looking locations, and sometimes even exactly in those locations where the original photo was taken.
The basics of the family consist of stories built on memories. Moreover, the concept of family is historically and culturally universal. Thus, family photos, even complete strangers, reflect the viewer's own experiences and memories and arouse nostalgia and empathy. Family photos taken in a photo studio, snapshots taken by a family member with a compact camera and other photos showing not only family members but also various people, including relatives, friends, classmates are carefully embedded on the pages of family albums. French philosopher Roland Barthes said that the noeme or "essence" of photography is a trace of what "was." Similarly, family albums tell a different story than the one that actually "was"; they serve as a visualization of the relationship between relatives and family members. Sometimes stories are changed and replaced with better memories. Every time we browse a photo album, we confirm the existence of a family in the staged documentary story. Today, photography has become an individual act, and family photos are rarely collected in a family album. Photographic interests have shifted to themselves and everyday life. However, photographs strengthen the continuity and alliance of the family as a group, firmly establishing it with a visual image. The act of taking joint photos is a way to confirm and strengthen family ties. It can only be pretending to be a family. But maybe the family becomes a family after photographing. Photographs are proof of our existence. The author "throws herself" on their stories to become part of it. The stories of these families are woven into memory and oblivion, fiction and reality. This project brings family photos back to life that were once left behind.
Rie Yamada was born in Nagoya in 1984. She studied photography in Japan. Then she worked in a photo studio for three years, came to Berlin in 2011. In 2013, she began studying Visual Communication at the Weißensee Art Academy in Berlin (weißensee kunsthochschule Berlin). She completed her undergraduate studies in 2017 and is currently working on her master's degree. Her undergraduate project "Familie werden" won the gute aussichten and the Mart Stam award. Her works have been exhibited in Deichtorhallen Hamburg, NRW-Forum Düsseldorf, as well as abroad, e.g. in Japan, Mexico, Vietnam, Paris and London. "Familie werden" is the first part of a three-part series devoted to the past, present and future of the family. The second part of the series, which he is currently working on, deals with the exploration of the modern form of the family, taking part in events related to "hunting for a partner" and "renting a family" in Japan. The third part will concern yourself and her future family.