Inside the Photo #18

Talking with Susanne Helmert

Happy Tuesday, my friend. And welcome to another appointment with Inside the Photo.

Today’s guest is Susanne, an incredible photographer and writer I met on Substack. I was immediately fascinated by her images and by the stories she tells in her newsletter. And I’m happy she’s here with us today.

I am Susanne Helmert, a photographer and mixed-media artist from Hamburg, Germany. Photography and art making have been an important part in my life over the past 15 years.

Through my work, I explore different questions and topics I am interested in.
There is one overarching theme though that I have been coming back to in the past ten years: the passage of time and the fragility and impermanence of life and the things that surround us.

When you look at Susanne’s pictures and read her articles, you will immediately recall that sense of transition she talks about in her intro. There’s a bit of nostalgia in her work, which is something I love. She’s also great at sequencing photos to create effective storytelling.

© Susanne Helmert

When Matteo asked me if I would contribute to his series “Inside the Photo”, I knew exactly which photo I wanted to write about. It is a photo of an old armchair I found in an abandoned house in 2016. The chair, which had been made of yellow fabric, had been sitting right next to a window in the small living room of the house. It was sprinkled with dust and dirt from years of neglect. But what caught my attention wasn’t the dirt. It was the heavy discoloration on the armrests of the chair. Someone must have been sitting in that chair day after day thinking, reading, waiting - always with their hands resting on these comfortable armrests. The yellow fibres of the fabric had been worn out over time leaving behind a darkened, leathery surface which to me seemed loaded with stories from a time long gone.

It's small details like this old, worn-out armchair that move me, make me wonder and serve as a reminder of the undeniable impermanence of life. Photographing these small glimpses and moments helps me deal with my own fragility and accept my own impermanence.

The photo is part of a series of photos I turned into a zine. You can read more about it here.

No need to tell you I highly recommend you check out Susanne’s work. And I also encourage you to subscribe to her Substack newsletter, which you can find here together with her website.

Website
Substack

Thanks a lot for being with us today, Susanne!

Take care and talk soon!