Week 11 - 2020
Madame d’Ora (Dora Philippine Kallmus) 1881 – 1963, Woman with a cat, ca 1950. Preus Museum Collection
Black cat
Today we write Friday the thirteenth, and many associate this day with misfortune and unluck. Sometimes, the era we live in today can be experienced as apocalyptic. So how should we pertain ourselves to all this fear? Perhaps we could choose which things are worth being frightened of, and take precautions based on somber science?
Madame d’Ora, or Dora Philippine Kallmus (which was her real name), was a pioneer in especially portrait- and fashion photography from 100 years ago. The majority of her family died in concentration camps during The Second World War, and by result it changed how she photographed. She lived through a nightmare, and her photography, in a sense, developed into a form of self therapy.
Black cats, in our part part of the world, are associated with witchcraft and misfortune. It’s a belief rooted in medieval thought. It's actually harder finding owners for black cats than any other type of cat, based on their fur-colour! However, in Japan it’s said that single women owning black cats get more suitors, and british seamen thought black cats onboard ships endowed their journeys with good fortune. Little of this is based on somber science, and neither is our interpretation of this image. Maybe we can put our fears aside, and suppose a black cat can carry with it prosperity, even on Friday the 13th!