Monumental moments / 1st Edition Gratis Retour

While browsing an auction site full of second-hand snapshots, Erik Lieber (NL) bought the first five images of what would grow into a collection of 929 amateur snapshots over the next ten years. ‘Monumental Moments’ consists of anonymous private prints, which he calls ‘orphan snapshots’. They show an unknown Japanese ‘Mom’ and ‘Girl’. The collection is almost entirely defined by the repetitive manner in which both women were photographed, preferably in or near tourist attractions. Each picture looks like an ordinary family snapshot. But the more the collection grew, the more questions it raised. ‘Monumental Moments’ evokes associations and questions about the transience of self-images. Is this perhaps a memento mori?