S New — Maturenl 24 03 29 Irenka Photographing My Old

Go. Find something old. Photograph it as if it has just arrived from a distant star.

The file name stares back from the folder: maturenl_24_03_29_irenka_photographing_my_old_s_new maturenl 24 03 29 irenka photographing my old s new

– She asks you to hold the watch. She photographs your hands, not the watch. You realize: the watch is old, your hands are older. But the new is the relationship between them – the way your thumb naturally rests on the crown, as if ready to wind it, even though you never do. The file name stares back from the folder:

One day, perhaps on 24 March 2029, you will open a folder on your computer and see a file you made today. It will look old. And then you will see it freshly, as if for the first time. That is the gift Irenka leaves you: the knowledge that every photograph of the old is, in its own moment, new. But the new is the relationship between them

In Zen aesthetics, there is wabi-sabi : the beauty of imperfection, impermanence, and incompleteness. Irenka’s work is wabi-sabi with a Dutch precision—clean backgrounds, careful aperture, but always a wrinkle, a scratch, a faded thread left in focus. Why that date? It is early spring. In the Netherlands, March 24th can be cruel or kind—perhaps snowdrops and crocuses are up, but the wind still bites.