Printing Allows Memory
A reflection on printing photographs in 2026
Printing a photograph on paper, especially on beautiful Japanese washi, is a way to keep the creative flame of touch alive.
Washi feels like a sensorial tool, like a spider web, it extends the feel of the photograph beyond, like Massimo described yesterday, after finishing his print. Its softness diffuses light in a way no screen ever can. When an image is printed on washi, it feels less like a reproduction and more like a treasure.
The mid 2000s initiated the slow decay of printed photography. To hold a photograph of hands is to hold someone you love, something you miss or long for. Paper allows that memory to exist in your space. It does not disappear with a swipe. It stays. I like to put random polaroids inside books. It’s a beautiful surprise when months or years after you go back at that book and a photograph says ‘Hi, how have you been?’ Like you, it’s memory, changes subtly over time…
Did your parents also have printed photographs of you on their wallet? Together with brother, mom, grandparents? Was this a thing in your country? I miss that. I miss going through the wallet of my father and checking the embarrassing photo he had of me, with a Carnival disguise, no front teeth. Always wondering, why do you have this ugly photo? Now, it comes to me that maybe it brought him a laugh, made him feel happy when he needed a little faith. Could we compare this practice as a rite of devotion? Like pocket shrines, or prayer cards…
We have recently printed two new photographs on washi paper, now available in House of Disquiet. One shows a lone tree from an Island on Atlantic Ocean, photo I took a few years ago. The tree bending softly in the fog suspended between disappearance and presence.
The other is a detail from the Leuk Charnel House, taken by Massimo, where texture and the silence of the main skull are a contemplative and unsettling frame. In both, the delicacy and strength of washi deepen the atmosphere, allowing the image to breathe with an almost sacred stillness.
Buying a photograph from a photographer, or one of their printed publications is supporting a way of seeing. It affirms the time, attention, and vulnerability that went into making that moment visible. In a world saturated with fleeting digital images, choosing a print is a gesture of kindness and recognition that creation, tactile beauty matters. The same goes for any printed artwork from illustrators, image-makers, and so on.
A printed photograph becomes part of your life. It hangs on your wall, rests on your desk, waits inside a book. It witnesses your days. It becomes an object of care, something to return to, something to hold, it says something about you too.
Author: Vanessa V.
February 12, 2026
Also posted on expired Frequencies Substack
* Washi is a traditional Japanese paper, handmade from long natural plant fibers such as kōzo, mitsumata, and gampi, remarkably thin yet strong, and used in art, shoji screens, and lanterns. Its ancient, careful craft is recognized by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage.