NINE DRAWERS
Instagram Profile/ Photo Album
Vjenceslav Richter Museum
Zagreb, Croatia, 2017
This piece is exclusively about Nada Kareš-Richter (1926-2015). I don’t know so much about Nada but I felt extremely connected to her soul while visiting her home at Vrhovec 38, Zagreb, Croatia, in summer 2017. She used to live in this building with her husband Vjenceslav Richter from 1964 till 2002 when Mr. Richter passed away. Thereafter, for 11 more years, she lived there alone, until 2013 when she left the house to the hospital and passed away two years later.
… I went upstairs taking the tiny wooden stairs; right in the moment I stepped in the living room on the second floor, I encountered with a powerful wave of energy coming from the space. Everything on this floor has been carefully preserved just the way it was when she left the house in 2011. I was amazed how profoundly I could feel the presence of Nada and Vjenceslav in their house to host the visitors. I started taking a close look at the objects lying around the place and it was then when I could sense the gentle touch of Nada on every little detail of that beautiful and cozy living room. I could feel her heart that has been put in to decorating and taking care of the house designed by his husband.
Looking around, I entered the bedroom. There, I could deeply feel her lonely years of living in the house after Vjenceslav Richter. The air was so heavy, but there was a kind of inviting vibe in the room that didn’t let me out easily and so I decided to spend more time there. I sat on a stool and found myself in front of her mirror placed on top of a humble piece of wooden furniture with nine drawers. I went through each of the drawers and literally saw Nada’s life through the objects thoughtfully organized in the drawers. More interestingly, I could somehow guess how the objects have been rearranged after his husband’s death. I was deeply touched because I could relate this observation to what has been going on in my family house since my father’s death. Although our excursion in this building was initially aimed to learn about Vjenceslav Richter’s great achievements in the field of art and architecture, I was more intrigued with Nada’s presence in the house. I decided to do something about this feeling and so created an Instagram account for Nada and shared 100 pictures taken from the objects in those nine drawers. I hope she is also happy with this Idea. See the photos and follow here
