TRANSIENCE

About this activity.

The photographers from the discussion group at Fotogalerie Lichtzone have explored the theme of ‘transience.’ This has resulted in a varied exhibition featuring a wide range of images. Visitors to the gallery will find something in every photograph that alludes to the irrevocable finitude of – well, of everything, really. Despite this sobering insight, there is ample opportunity to enjoy the exhibited photographs.
Everything breaks down; everything decays. Sometimes it happens quickly; sometimes it takes a bit longer. Often, it happens so slowly that you do not even notice it. You only see the change after you haven’t looked for a while. Either way, eventually, nothing at all will remain.
We humans shouldn’t delude ourselves. Yes, we are incredibly clever; we make one invention after another and devise all sorts of ways to make the previously impossible possible. We try to prolong our existence with superfluous supplements, absurd vitamin infusions, and unnecessary total-body scans. As if it were nothing. We take it all completely for granted. We behave as though we possess eternal life.
But according to the ‘vanitas’ concept, we are in for a rude awakening. Eternity is an illusion. Everything is transient and futile. And vain– in the sense of being empty, meaningless, and finite. Traditional ‘vanitas’ still-life paintings are replete with symbols that remind us of this. Skulls remind us of inevitable death; clocks and hourglasses, of the temporary nature of existence. Rotting fruit warns of the fleeting nature of being. It is just as well that most of us do not go around constantly burdened by the joyless awareness of that inescapable end. The images in this exhibition are also filled with associations of destruction, death, and decay. It is a remarkable paradox that these images, in all their intriguing bleakness, can evoke a genuine sense of beauty.

Jan Bommerson, August 2026

Galerie Lichtzone.

Galerie Lichtzone biedt een podium aan veel verschillende fotografen. Ongeacht stroming, stijl of onderwerpkeuze biedt de galerie fotografen de gelegenheid fotowerk te exposeren. Daardoor is het aanbod verrassend gevarieerd. Elke maand is er bij Fotogalerie Lichtzone weer een nieuwe foto-expositie te bekijken.

Location.

Fotogalerie Lichtzone
Oude Kijk in 't Jatstraat 36
9712 EK Groningen
tel 050-5890207
www.lichtzone.nl