Petra Barth grew up in a rural village. She, her parents and her sisters
lived on a small piece of land where nature was untamed. She climbed
trees, floated on tires in big puddles of rainwater, picked wild
blueberries in a nearby forest, and wandered along the giant furrows of
a massive potato field across the street. As evenings approached, she
feared for the moment she had to go to bed. Recurring nightmares haunted
her during the day and kept awake at night. "I kept hoping that if I
didn't fall asleep, I could escape my dreams. Maybe that's why I am
captivated by illusions".
Her mother would hang the clothes for Petra and her sisters to wear the
next morning on the closet door. She didn't know that they would throw
ominous shadows that intensified by the light of the moon shining
through the window scared Petra. "Maybe that's why I am fascinated by
shadow and light".
At the sunrise, inspired by tales from faraway countries that her
parents told them at bedtime, Petra and her sisters would roam the land
and look for adventure. "Maybe that's why I am drawn to the
countryside, and to the unknown".
Decades have passed and nightmares were replaced by curiosity. Through
the lens of her camera, Petra Barth was able to explore the places away
from home and keep moments alive which otherwise would be forgotten. The
images in ANDERSWO reflect Petra's journey to unfamiliar places, both
geographically and emotionally. By letting her own memories interweave
with the stories she listened to others share, she created intangible
threads and followed them back to the little girl in the potato field,
captivated by the unpredictable.
