Goethe Scenes

The False Grandfather

The boy gazes shyly at the camera. If it weren’t for grandpa, emanating safety and self-confidence, he wouldn’t be sitting so still – or so it seems. Yet, appearances are deceiving: the two in the portrait are not related; they do not even know one another and will probably never meet again. In his black and white photos, Berlin photographer Alexander von Reiswitz speaks of the “fortuitousness of life.” He spontaneously poses passersby in groups, asks them to hold hands or put their arms over each others’ shoulders. Thus, closeness and physical contact turn strangers into grandsons, fathers or grandmothers. Around the world, von Reiswitz invents his own families and creates new realities. The exhibition „Family Constellation“ can now be seen in Casablanca at the der retroPERSPEKTIVE 2010.