Childhood

Childhood is a place we keep coming back to as adults. We remember the beginnings of learning about the world and trace the development of the self. Linked to this is the experience of the fate of being thrown into family and social relationships, which from then on also shaped the path of life. With the recognition of childhood as a separate phase of life, which is preceded by a centuries-long cultural, social and socio-political development, the demarcation to adulthood occurred and special consideration has since been linked to this fragile development phase, which is in need of protection and care. In “Childhood”, Arzu Sandal talks about her experience of domestic violence in childhood. The early experience of fear, being exposed, caring for siblings, the mother and oneself, but also efforts to cover up, shape the everyday life of those affected. Sandal approaches her own childhood again in “Childhood”. It is less about retelling and more about the feelings with which the memories remain connected. The juxtaposition of processed photographs from childhood and new analogue recordings of the place where Sandal grew up and which she avoided for ten years, creates a distanced view of what has been experienced. In this way, the trauma becomes comprehensible for the viewer as a suspended, unpredictable and temporally decoupled memory.