FESTIVAL SELECTEE 2025
ARNE PIEPKE
THE SHAPE OF F.S.
German documentary photographer Arne Piepke’s ‘The Shape of F.S.’ is a visual exploration of his great-grandfather’s life influenced by his time as a soldier in World War I. Sparked by a dive into the family’s archives and reflecting on his mother’s remarks about her childhood, Piepke and his mother revisit the fields of Somme in France as part of the project. Here his great-grandfather served as a soldier. The photographs document their encounters entering this particular historical place and the family’s own archival material. Piepke brings forth a more emotional ‘speculative approach’ to documentary photography to disseminate history from a more emotionally engaged viewpoint. Through his work he wants to invoke conversation on knowing your family history and the responsibilities that may come with it.
“It's an individual story, but there are a lot of family histories and family stories in Germany, which are similar. They're all individual stories, but they have something in common. I thought this project could show a story that can encourage people to also look into their own family history and how their history is connected to these historical events, mainly these historical wars. Especially in Germany, where this is a very important topic.”
— Arne Piepke
INTO THE LIGHT
An archive relived
Project: The Shape of F.S. by Arne Piepke
German documentary photographer Arne Piepke’s The Shape of F.S. is a visual exploration of his great-grandfather, who served in World War I. The project follows three protagonists, Piepke, his mother, and his great-grandfather, and uses still lifes, physical mementos, and subjective photographs to create a delicate yet interwoven narrative.
An underlying question in Piepke’s practice is the function of documentary photography, which led Piepke to shift towards a more personal lens. Not only turning inwards to himself but also to the perspectives of his family.
Arne Piepke // The Shape of F.S.
Ponderings on intergenerational inheritance
While sifting through his family archives and reflecting on remarks from his mother about her childhood, Piepke found himself contemplating how we are shaped by the experiences of past generations. He imagines that the way his family presently deals with emotions may be the effects of lingering war trauma from his great-grandfather’s generation.
“Anyone looking into their family history is also trying to find clues and hints about their own identity. I am questioning how people and experiences in the past actually shape me and my behavior today. I don’t think you can actually find clear answers in my case. But I got closer to why and how my family deals with certain aspects on an emotional level and how I deal with those emotions today. And this could be shaped by the experiences of my great-grandfather.”
Expanding the photographic tool box
For this series, Piepke and his mother travelled to France to visit some of the sites which his great-grandfather had sent letters from. While he has typically practiced a more stringent, straightforward visual language stemming from the documentary tradition, this project required more abstraction to reflect on its personal nature. This approach allowed him to broaden his emotional photographic palette and communicate through self-portraiture of his mother and him.
While reading the letters, Piepke was surprised by the banalities. The weather, food, clothes, and the continuous questions about the family back home. While visiting Somme in France, where his great-grandfather had fought, Piepke found that the homemade butter on his breakfast table echoed the homemade butter his great-grandfather had always been thankful to receive from family. These works had a certain site-specific quality, with the echoes and connections feeling especially powerful when returning to the same place his great-grandfather had been.
Arne Piepke // The Shape of F.S.
Revisiting the family archive
The use of family archival materials also involved professional translations of the century-old cursive letters. There was some challenge to working with these random bits and pieces from over a century ago, but the distance between the present and the past seemed to diminish for Piepke when holding the letters in his hands. Stories that no one ever imagined would be read or seen a century ago sprung to life and turned into a complex web of emotions interweaving home, family, nation, identity, and self.
“To me, my great-grandfather was at first just a person from history, but while engaging in this project he became more of a present figure and family member. Reading the letters for the first time was like hearing his voice. That is why the project is called ‘The Shape of F.S.’ because at the beginning it was just a shape, and while dealing with it got more explicit. Now, I talk much more with my mother about her childhood and how she grew up. It has made me understand the here and now much better.”
Beyond the decisive moment of photojournalism
When documenting the past, Piepke takes on a more speculative approach, focusing on what the site was, is, and will become. Unlike photojournalism, which seeks to capture a decisive moment, documenting history involves engaging with a landscape that has already passed. The remnants like mossed-over metal scraps and shards are traces of a decisive moment that happened a century ago yet still remains engraved.
In today’s world, where conflict rages on, we can turn to speculative documentary photography, which not only allows us to witness the moment depicted but also imagine the moment as it was and will be. Piepke’s work reflects on how current landscapes of conflict will look and be remembered a century from now. He hopes his work can spark a conversation on knowing your family history and the responsibilities that may come with it.
Arne Piepke // The Shape of F.S.
INTO THE LIGHT
“Bringing this kind of information into the light means engaging with it on an emotional level. These historical events are not finished; parts of a society are way too distanced from this and they really just don't want to engage with it anymore, but I think that's a huge mistake. Especially now. I don't think that history just repeats itself, it’s always different. We are living in different times, but we are still engaging in wars and peace. It is a very fragile thing. Looking back to historical wars on an emotional level especially, not just knowing the numbers and facts, but emotionally engaging with it could make a difference in the end. It still affects us today.”
— Arne Piepke
Interview & Text · Gabriella Presnal and Gaitana Jaramillo · Proof & Edit · Hanna Tokaj and Christine Almlund
ARTIST BIO
Arne Piepke (b.1991) is a photographer exploring how environmental and historical contexts influence how people find their identity. Within his photo essays, he wants to contribute an alternative critical lens to initiate a conversation on how history affects our present. He works with his national culture & traditions, family, and site specificity.
Selected achievements
- – 2023 Winner Lucie Foundation Scholarship, Fine Art, Professional for The Shape of F.S.
- – 2023 Shortlist Nikon Fotobus Grant.
- – 2023 Third Place Winner of Revela’t Photo Festival.
- – 2022 World Report Award Shortlist, Short Story.
- – 2021 Finalist W. Eugene Smith Student Grant.
Portrait of Arne Piepke by Katharina Kemme.
