While researching and writing about one of my deepest passions, how we preserve important memories and how we continue to feel close to someone we have lost, I came across the wonderful Stephanie Bahrke. Stephanie is a portrait artist based in Hamburg, and a significant part of her work is dedicated to memorial portraits. Her drawings radiate warmth in a way that is difficult to put into words. We exchanged messages for a while, and on my next visit to Hamburg I stopped by her studio, the Atelier unter der Linde.
The Studio and the Artist
The Atelier unter der Linde is located at Timmermannstraße 1-3, corner of Himmelstraße, 22299 Hamburg. It is a bright and welcoming space with large windows through which you can admire a few beautiful works of art and catch a glimpse inside at the artist herself. Stephanie has a wonderfully positive and open manner, and we understood each other immediately. On her easel sat her current project. One wall held a piece that had been created during the pandemic; on another, a large collaborative work involving many different people. The white floor is dotted with paint, which only adds to the creative atmosphere. You feel entirely at home there. I can recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone who happens to be passing through Hamburg.
Memorial Portraits
In October 2019, Stephanie's father passed away. A great part of her grieving process unfolded through the act of drawing his portrait. Whilst sketching at his deathbed she felt a profound closeness to him. She drew her father for the funeral cards, and a favourite photograph became the reference for the memorial portrait that was displayed at the burial. Today that portrait hangs in her studio, where it allows her to feel her father's presence still.
Having lived through the creation of a memorial portrait herself, Stephanie is able to enter deeply into her clients' feelings and truly appreciate the immense significance that such a portrait carries. Through her many years of experience she is able to draw a portrait from a wide variety of photographs, one that brings forward what made that person singular. A memorial portrait is a beautiful alternative to a photograph at a funeral or memorial service.
Portraits of Sternenkinder
With children who are stillborn or who pass away shortly after birth, preserving memories becomes especially important. In our own jewellery we very often preserve memories of these little ones through engravings or personal keepsake materials. For Stephanie, too, keeping those memories alive is something she holds close to her heart. Working from photographs taken by specialist photographers of Sternenkinder, or from images provided by the family, she creates beautiful portraits of the children. Through a portrait like this, the child is given a permanent place in the family, on the wall of photographs, as an enduring part of the household. The result is deeply beautiful and genuinely supports the grieving process.
I am grateful to have met Stephanie. I recommend her work wholeheartedly, because what she does is enormously important for bringing the subjects of death, grief, and loss into the public conversation. A person is truly gone only when no one speaks of them any more. So let us preserve our memories together, and work against forgetting.
