Maturenl 24 03 29 Irenka Photographing My Old S New Page

– She asks you to hold the watch. She photographs your hands, not the watch. You realize: the watch is old, your hands are older. But the new is the relationship between them – the way your thumb naturally rests on the crown, as if ready to wind it, even though you never do.

An essay on seeing familiar things for the first time maturenl 24 03 29 irenka photographing my old s new

One day, perhaps on 24 March 2029, you will open a folder on your computer and see a file you made today. It will look old. And then you will see it freshly, as if for the first time. That is the gift Irenka leaves you: the knowledge that every photograph of the old is, in its own moment, new. – She asks you to hold the watch

If “my old as new” – a translation issue from Slavic languages (Polish: “moje stare jako nowe”). It implies a transformation: through Irenka’s lens, the old performs newness. This is the most likely meaning, given the Slavic diminutive “Irenka.” But the new is the relationship between them