IMAGO (work in progress)

Imago is an experimental documentary examining inherited trauma and transformation of identity through archival footage and nature observations.

Starting with my grandfather’s fragmented childhood memories from Berlin and his escape from the Nazis in 1939, the film examines how memory is altered and performed over three generations. While my grandfather became one of Sweden’s first psychotherapists, my mom became a storyteller for children. In this work, I am reflecting on repression, narrative and magical thinking as survival strategies.

The title "Imago" refers both to the final stage of an insect in metamorphosis, and in Jungian psychoanalysis, to an idealized image of a parental figure.

The project started to develop in the course “Individual Project Moving Image” at the Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm, 2026.
 

ANFANGSZEIT, 2026

Wooden sculpture, five German books (1936-1939)
_{Beneath the Wheel, Hermann Hesse
The Sorrows of Young Werther, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Decisive Moments in History, Stefan Zweig
The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Gottfried August Bürger
Götz von Berlichingen, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe}


A work-in-progress connected to my ongoing project “Imago” – a film centered on my grandfather’s escape from Nazi Germany in 1939 and his memories from Berlin. The piece was presented in the group exhibition “Det 23:e Rummet” at i23 studios, Stockholm.