In spring 2013, Villa Vital had only recently become known among urbex photographers. Many belongings remained, and the house still had a character of its own.
At the time, I heard various personal stories about the residents’ departure. I leave those out here. Financial problems or family circumstances are not background details you can simply publish on the strength of conversations with others.
In photographs from later visits, I saw that objects had been moved or had disappeared. Eventually, reports of a fire followed. My series belongs to the earlier stage, when the interior was still much more complete.
The staircase, the different rooms and the piles of belongings clearly mark this as a former home. That is precisely where it becomes uncomfortable to invent a resident for every object. The photographs are not a family history. They mainly show what happens to a house and its contents when use and maintenance stop, and later when visitors also leave their own traces.
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