In an age of rising aggression, nationalist resentment and shifting territorial power, the preoccupation with a photographic legacy may seem almost anachronistic. And yet, or perhaps because of this, it is more important than ever. Each image is a trace, an act of resistance against forgetting, a fragment of a narrative that refuses to be appropriated. When visibility itself becomes a site of negotiation, it is not just a question of art, it is a question of democracy.
On the invitation of the ANU – Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv, I am taking part in the exhibition 20/20 Women’s Lens, which honors twenty pioneering women in photography. Within this framework, I focus on the work of Gerti Deutsch, whose images speak of exile, displacement, and the power of looking—a quiet yet profound act of defiance against oblivion.
In a year when elections in Germany once again bring nationalist and populist forces to the forefront, this project serves as a reminder that history does not stand still—it is shaped by those who tell it. With my contribution, I build on Gerti Deutsch’s legacy, translating her questions into a contemporary context. Because history is never finished—it is continuously rewritten.
Gerti Deutsch originally aspired to be a pianist, but illness made that dream unattainable. Instead, she found another form of expression—photography—one that, like music, is shaped by rhythm, depth, and the power of resistance.
At the heart of this project is Die Gedanken sind frei—a song with a long and layered history. Though it was sung in concentration camps as a quiet act of defiance, it is much older. Long before, it had already been a song of resistance, a hymn against oppression, and at the same time, a lullaby offering comfort and hope. It reminds us that music not only heals but also empowers, strengthens, and preserves freedom—even where it is most threatened.
Gerti Deutsch’s photographs carry this same spirit. Her images speak of a freedom that does not announce itself loudly but is revealed in gestures, gazes, and postures—a freedom that refuses to be silenced or claimed. Like the song that has been passed down through generations, her work continues to resonate in the present.
At a time when children are once again subjected to displacement and violence—most devastatingly in Gaza, but also across the Mediterranean, in Sudan, Ukraine, or Yemen, and and countless other places—revisiting these historical images feels not only impossible but also risks turning suffering into an image rather than questioning its causes. In these regions, the fragility of belonging is not an abstract idea but a daily reality, shaped by war, exile, and systemic exclusion.
Yet, this fragility is not confined to the peripheries. All of Europe stands at a crossroads, with resurging nationalism, increasingly divisive migration debates, and a growing sense of instability that renders belonging precarious for many. Austria, the country Gerti Deutsch came from, exemplifies this shift. She herself moved between London and Vienna, navigating two worlds, two political realities. Today, the nationalism that once forced her into exile is resurfacing in new forms. These parallels cannot be ignored.
Japan is not a war zone, yet it remains a place where modernity collides with tradition and history, raising questions of erasure and transformation. Like Gerti Deutsch in Japan, I, too, was an outsider there, a witness at the margins. This perspective informs my photographic work, creating a visual dialogue between past and present, between what remains and what has been systematically erased.
Parallel to this photographic inquiry, I am developing a multi-channel video installation in collaboration with migrant women in Germany—women whose existence is shaped by the continuous negotiation of visibility and vulnerability, whose right to remain is perpetually uncertain. Their voices emerge in the present, interwoven with the song Die Gedanken sind frei—a hymn to resistance, autonomy, and the fragile spaces of belonging. In the omnipresence of images, it is music that resonates beyond language, beyond representation. It requires no subtitles—it carries the weight of history and the urgency of the now within itself.
