Nina Röder’s ancestors were Sudeten Germans who were expelled from the Czech town of Marienbad in the aftermath of World War II. Prior to that time, her great-grandfather Josef Behr had worked as a concierge at the Bayrischer Hof Hotel.

Since 2018, the photographer has travelled to the spa town with her family on a regular basis and spent time in that very hotel. Röder’s photographs are stylized images of nostalgic longing; Marienbad and its neo-kitsch aesthetics frame the setting for a game of identities. As part of the orchestrated light-heartedness and innocuousness of the location, images with erotic connotations can be seen alongside pictures of the mother featuring fictitious or constructed elements. With this series, the photographer references earlier works that focused on her personal family narratives and continues to explore her desire to delve into her family’s origins.