Engraved in ghostly black and white, Anna Ardent’s debut monograph, Vanishing, conjures a world of dreamlike dread and beauty. Arendt was born in the German Democratic Republic. Her parents were born in 1940 in Germany, children of war. Both of her grandfathers had been soldiers, who had been in Poland between 1940 and 1942. One came back 7 years after the war was over, the other one never returned.
Photographed between Germany and Poland over 15 years, the work slides back and forth through time like a blood memory. Walking naked through the dark forest, wolves circling, howling. A daughter becoming a mother becoming a grandmother becoming a child. Haunted villages, and souls in jeopardy. The harsh reality of the past merges seamlessly with moments of rapture that feel plucked from a Grimm fairy tale.
Vanishing an unforgettable depiction of how beauty and brutality coexist in the hearts of men and beasts.
From the Artist:
My name is Anna Arendt. but that isn’t the name my parents gave me when
I was born.
I was born and spent my life in the German Democratic Republic.
Many of us lived in fear. The Stasi was everywhere.
I was 24 when the Wall fell.
My daughter was 2.
Both my parents were born 1940 in Germany.
Both children of war.
My grandfathers had been soldiers.
Both had been in Poland between 1940 and 1941.
One came back 2 years after the war was over, the other one never came back home.
I remember the faces of my grandmothers, my mother, my father when I asked questions about the war.
I remember this first as a child, later as a young woman, then as a mother, and now as a grandmother myself.
There were no answers. Only silence and tears.
As a child I found a way to open a secret shelf that contained photo albums of my family.
I would sneak away and look at them. I am still ashamed of this, but I don’t regret.
I discovered the power of a picture.
When the world seems broken, I go to the forest.
I like wolves, ravens, crows and deer.
Looking into the eyes of a wild animal reminds me about reality.
About beauty and brutality.
I’ve been traveling to Poland for over 15 years.
Through cities and villages, forests and concentration camps.
Over all those years, no answers. Only more questions.
Making pictures is my way to move on.
Anna Arendt
Anna Arendt : Vanishing
Charcoal Press
Hardcover, Linen with Faux Leather tipped-in image
144 Pages, 7 x 9.5 inches / 17.7 × 24.1 cm
ISBN: 978-1-7362345-5-9
Retail: $55, £45, €55
Release: May 1, 2025
https://charcoalpress.com/
