A surreal photographic project about inherited trauma and postmemory by German artist and photographer Elena Helfrecht (previously featured here). Born in Bavaria in 1992, Helfrecht’s practice mainly revolves around phenomena of consciousness, combining individual experiences with collective history. In “Plexus,” Helfrecht embarks on a photographic journey through her family’s estate in Bavaria following the death of her grandmother. The black and white photographs of interiors, objects and archives, create an allegorical play. Scenes that at first glance appear mundane become increasingly unsettling.

“In the process of reconnecting the fragmentary history of my female lineage, the term ‘re-membering’ becomes literal. Immersing myself into this story, I fill the gaps with dreams, associations and imagined scenes to create a narrative transgressing personal and national boundaries. The objects and architecture of the house become parabolic proxies and open a gate between the past and the present.”

Helfrecht’s images symbolically allude to the unreal and imaginary creeping into recollections of personal and cultural histories. Confronting a past spanning four generations, Helfrecht explores the intersecting and reverberating echoes of mental health, war and history. “Plexus” also features a short story by Canadian writer Camilla Grudova. Grudova’s piece, “The House Surgeon,” is about a disturbing growth that silently develops under the floorboards of a family home, drawing further upon the themes of inherited trauma presented through Helfrecht’s photographs.

See more images from the project, published by VOID, below!