Magrit Dittmann Soldičić
Vado Via
An Island-Inspired Story of Farewell and Loss

© Magrit Dittmann Soldičić: portrait of the photographer
“A man never knows how to say goodbye; a woman never knows when to say it.”
– Helen Rowland
INTRODUCTION
It was in the summer of 2007 or 2008 that I first saw a photograph for the Vado Via exhibition of Magrit Dittmann Soldičić hanging on the supermarket’s door in Stivan, a village on the Croatian island of Cres. This image of a lady with a suitcase, standing face to the sea, waiting for the ship that will bring her to the unknown stuck with me for years, revealing deep emotions of sadness, loss and solitude. The photograph stayed ingrained in my memory up to this day. It took me more than a decade to finally get in touch with Magrit, a German photographer, who was so kind to reveal her connection with the island of Cres and share her photographs.
Though initially imagined as an overview of the Vado Via exhibition, this interview turned out to be an intimate story about dealing with loneliness, leaving, about cherishing the memory of those who stayed in the remote villages of Kvarner’s islands where life was more about survival than anything else. Margit’s photographic eye is courageous and empathic, giving recognition to the silent, modest destinies of the islanders who left but also those who remained on their homeland. These destinies are ingrained in every stone, wall, and breath of air. The air on Cres, as my friend, a reiki teacher, said years ago, is particularly emotionally charged. It is a place where the souls of the ones who left return back home.
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© Magrit Dittmann Soldičić: frau am steg, 1987 x 3129, from the VADO VIA series
ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHER
Magrit Dittmann Soldičić was born in 1950 in Itzehoe, Germany. She studied psychology/sociology/philosophy at the J.W. Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main. She started her photographic work in 1974, documenting the activities of “FrauenAsta”, general student’s committee which consisted only of women, at the University Frankfurt a. M., and was also a co-founder and photographer of the weekly magazine the “Frankfurter Frauenblatt” From 1977-1978 Dittmann Soldičić worked as an academic assistant at the institute for Adult Education, J.W. Goethe University Frankfurt a. M.. Since 1987 Stivan, a village in the western part of Cres Island, has been her second residence. Along with numerous exhibitions in Germany and Croatia, she is an active member of the photographic association Mali Losinj, Croatia, since 2009.
Ana:
Before diving into the theme of the Vado Via series, could you tell us how your interest in photography started? What were your first subjects, first type of camera?
M.D. Soldičić:
My interest in photography began as a young girl. I photographed scenes from my family, parties, holidays and even landscapes. At school I photographed class parties and trips. I attached the individual photos to large sheets of paper and numbered them so that each student could choose one. Then I ordered them for everyone. I photographed all of this with an Instamatic compact camera.
Ana:
In 1974 in Frankfurt, you were the co-creator and photographer of Frankfurter Frauenblatt? Could you tell us more about this experience? And what was FrauenAsta really about ?
M.D. Soldičić:
I came to Frankfurt a.M. in 1972 to study pedagogy, psychology and sociology at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University. A friend brought me a Rollei SLR camera, 35mm, from overseas. After I had familiarized myself with the techniques of taking photographs with such a camera, I began to photograph pictures of the city of Frankfurt and domestic scenes. In a nearby laboratory belonging to a collective facility, I developed my films and made the positives myself. At that time, Frankfurt was experiencing house-to-house fighting („Häuserkampf“) over two houses on Wittelsbachallee in Frankfurt Bockenheim, not far from the university. These were offshoots of the 1968 movement. I came into contact with the ideas of this movement at the university. At the same time, the women’s movement in Frankfurt was becoming politicized, and I quickly sympathized with it.
I moved into a large apartment with a friend, where two women, who had been involved in the house-to-house fighting, also moved in. We quickly became friends because we were on the same path in terms of thinking. When the possibility of women taking over the self-governing bodies at the university, the four of us women were there. The first ASTA (general student committee, in other words the “government” of the university’s student body) was formed at a university in Europe, which consisted only of women.
We organized general assemblies, demonstrations, a women’s parade through the university’s seminars and other things. I accompanied all of this with my camera. We thought about starting our own newspaper. After the end of the ASTA, some of us founded a monthly newspaper, the FRANKFURTER FRAUENBLATT. I was fully committed to it. For the front page of the first edition, I photographed all the women in the women’s newspaper sitting on a tree. More front pages with my photographs followed. I also photographed the events organized by other women’s groups in Frankfurt, which were then printed in our newspaper. All of my photographs from the time of the women’s ASTA and the FRANKFURTER FRAUENBLATT are stored in the archive of the FrauenMediaTurm in Cologne, www.frauenmediaturm.de. There is also a documentation by Rosemarie Hassel in the archive of the J.G. University in Frankfurt a.M.

Members of the women’s AStA: v. l. Back row, Felicitas Schneck, Irmgard Geldmacher, Anne Rohrbach, N.N., Heidemarie Renk, Rita Häfner, Marianne Dilley, bottom row from. l., Ursula Bub, Magrit Dittmann, Elisabeth Link, Rosemarie Hassel. Photo: Alexander Bopp, Frankfurt University Archives. Source: https://stadtteil-historiker.de/service/magazin/details/der-frauen-asta-der-frankfurter-universitaet-1976-77
Ana:
Stivan is today your second home, as I understood. How did you discover this remote village on the island of Cres?
M.D. Soldičić:
My husband was born in Stivan and grew up in the town of Mali Losinj. I met him in Martinscica in the summer of 1977. We fell in love and he came to Frankfurt am Main, where we married in 1980. In 1981, after the birth of our daughter, we moved to Itzehoe, a town north of Hamburg and took over a restaurant in my mother’s house. We renovated it and built a stage in the so-called Clubraum. A year later, we expanded it into a large room in which we organized theater, live music, singer-songwriters and cabaret artists. In 1987 my father-in-law called to say that a house in the bay of Stivan was for sale. We knew the location and immediately agreed. At first we only spent the holidays in the house and from 2009 we have lived there all year round.

© Magrit Dittmann Soldičić: Stivan village, located on the eastern side of island Cres, about 1000 m from the sea
Ana:
The image with the lady holding a suitcase from the Vado Via series was probably one of the most heartbreaking photographs I ever saw. This image accompanied me daily during my first years of life in France, and is probably one of the few ones that I return to in search for some answers. What made you want to portray the female emigrations from the islands and who is the lady with the suitcase?
M.D. Soldičić:
The idea to emigrate one day to Stivan arrived very early. Immediately after I met my husband, we came up with the idea of raising sheep in the village of Stivan. Well, this idea was more the result of youthful exuberance than a realistic perspective. When we bought the house in the bay, a realistic perspective emerged for the first time. But I was afraid, afraid of feeling lonely there in the winter. I knew this kind of loneliness very well. Therapy that was taking place at the same time helped me to slowly realize that this loneliness was not caused by the place, but lay within myself.
Every time I stayed in the house on vacation, I visited the village of Vidovići. I was attracted to it, just by the view of the sea from up there. I quickly became friends with the few female residents of the village. I spoke a little Croatian. It was the Stivan dialect that earned the women’s trust in me.

© Magrit Dittmann Soldičić: Vidovići village, located above Martinšćica village- the second port on the Cres island. The altitude of the village is about 260 meters.
They let me into their houses and I could photograph everything. But what interested me even more was the question of loneliness in the winter and how do they deal with it. They did not understand my question, because for them this solitude did not exist. They lived their everyday lives there with all the work that went with it, year after year, in winter as well as in summer. So the question of loneliness was entirely a personal one. And so came the idea about experiencing what it is like to leave your home. My intention was actually to leave Itzehoe and move to the island. And in Vidovići I wanted to experience what it feels like when you leave your home. A friend of mine was an actress and she immediately agreed when I told her about the project.

© Magrit Dittmann Soldičić: Tuch Mund, 6850 x 4896, from the VADO VIA series
She visited me in the summer of 2006. A year earlier, I had mapped out all the stages of the decision to leave the village. We could start taking photos right away. Beforehand, we discussed and drafted a possible story for this imaginary woman, what might have motivated her to leave. It was August and very hot, so we set off for the village early in the morning. It was an intense emotional process for me. Again and again I changed photographic positions, depending on my feelings.

© Magrit Dittmann Soldičić: Auf dem Bett, 4566 x 6850, VADO VIA series

© Magrit Dittmann Soldičić: Koffer packen, 5057 x 6850, from the VADO VIA series

© Magrit Dittmann Soldičić: Rasierspiegel, 4719 x 6850, VADO VIA series

© Magrit Dittmann Soldičić: Aus dem Dorf, 6850 x 4420, from the VADO VIA series
“My intention was actually to leave Itzehoe and move to the island. And in Vidovići I wanted to experience what it feels like when you leave your home. A friend of mine was an actress and she immediately agreed when I told her about the project.”
When we arrived in Martinščica, we were able to take photos in the monastery and the priest then blessed my friend for her journey into the unknown. I did not include the photos from the monastery in the exhibition,nor the photos I took on the ship. The ending was supposed to be open. She is standing on the pier with her suitcase and looking out to sea. I was surprised that all the visitors to the exhibition thought that the woman in the photos had actually lived there. A reaction that I was pleased about afterwards, as it shows that I had captured the story well.

© Magrit Dittmann Soldičić: In der Kirche, 4930 x 6850 cm, from the VADO VIA series
Ana:
Are you familiar with some real stories of women that emigrated from the Cres Island?
M.D. Soldičić:
My husband’s sister emigrated to Canada. In the village itself there were many, including good friends of the family, who emigrated to America and Canada.The subject of emigration has occupied me for a long time. Among other things, it was echoed in the research on the violinist Velemir Dugina, who took his own life at the age of 29 and was buried in Stivan. His family emigrated to Trieste under political pressure.
Ana:
Your photographic interest has been centered around the Kvarner islands of Cres and Lošinj, we can mention the series Velemir Dugina, the violinist buried in the village of Stivan, or AMIDST THE SILENCE, the photographic dialogue on the island Lošinj and Cres. We can feel this deep emotional attachment that you have with these isolated and authentic island spaces. What feelings do these spaces evoke for you?
M.D. Soldičić:
During my time in Itzehoe, I was involved in everyday office work and shopping for the restaurant, household chores and organizing events. On the island, I found peace that allowed me to concentrate on looking at what was around me. The sea, the abandoned houses, the church festivals in Stivan, Miholašćica and Martinšćica and the research on Velemir Dugina. The island of Cres, in its emptiness and desolation, leaves room for stories, for imagination, for one’s own vision. The latter is not hindered by symbols or pigeonholes of preconceived ideas that block one’s own view.

© Magrit Dittmann Soldičić: Zisternentanz, 4668 x 6850, from the VADO VIA series
Ana:
You have been a member of the Losinj’s photo club since 2009, an association that has been presenting some of the most amazing photographs of the Kvarner’s islands signed Ivan Brčić, Sandro Puncet, Sara Širola, Sandro Tariba, Ivan Jurić, and other talented names. What has been your contribution to this association?
M.D. Soldičić:
My contribution to the Losinj photography club was, in addition to attending the weekly meetings and discussions about photography, to taking part in the annual exhibitions. The photography club and the library of the town of Losinj enabled one member to have a solo exhibition every year. I designed one such exhibition with the theme “Sophie na putu” (English transl. “Sophie on the go). Sophie was actually a stuffed animal (chicken) that I got from my therapist in exchange for a black and white photograph. Sophie made it possible to enter into a dialogue with myself. When I got lost in conflicting feelings and could no longer see where I was in them, the dialogue managed to create a distance from which I could sort out my feelings. Sophie always managed to get me back on track. The chicken became my life coach. I often wrote the dialogue with her in my diary. Afterwards, I felt lighter. Sophie became an indispensable companion on all my journeys. Stowed in my backpack, with only her head sticking out, I carried her down to the sea every day.
Ana:
Is there any motive from the island that you could photograph relentlessly, over and over again?
M.D. Soldičić:
The sea, the sea and always the sea! Then follow the interior spaces of the houses in the villages and the people during their celebrations or other events, e.g. baptisms, funerals, communions and the like.

© Magrit Dittmann Soldičić, © Sigrid Maria Katletz, a photographic dialogue on the island Lošinj and Cres. From the series AMIDST THE SILENCE
“The island of Cres, in its emptiness and desolation, leaves room for stories, for imagination, for one’s own vision. The latter is not hindered by symbols or pigeonholes of preconceived ideas that block one’s own view.”

© Magrit Dittmann Soldičić: Küche, 4866 x 6850, VADO VIA series
Ana:
What is the purpose of photography for you, a definition of a good photograph and your vision of photography in the upcoming future?
M.D. Soldičić:
For me, photography is first and foremost a medium for expressing my feelings. Feelings that develop when looking, observing, recognizing and then turn into images. They can also turn into ideas, stories that I then turn into photographs. Good photographs should first and foremost be authentic. Spectacular motifs should not be the maxim of a photographer’s actions. I want to feel the photographer in her photographs. This can even be experienced in documentary photographs, see Inge Morath, among others. Next year there will be an exhibition at the Palace Moise in Cres in September called KOLTRINA or the Dance with the Wind. Koltrina is the name my mother-in-law Jelica used for the curtain, a word in the dialect of Stivan. I felt very comfortable living with her in the house in Stivan for several months, and that’s why I call a curtain koltrina.

© Magrit Dittmann Soldičić: KOLTRINA (15) or the Dance with the Wind, 4032 x 3024, 2023

© Magrit Dittmann Soldičić: KOLTRINA (14) or Dance with the Wind, 4032 x 3024, 2023
In the photographic series KOLTRINA, which takes place on the small island Visoki, the image of the emblematic lady with the suitcase from VADO VIA gets a completely new perspective. With this fictional character Magrit portrayed a woman’s journey from darkness to light, over several years. The arduous story of farewell, loss and solitude reaches its end, becoming the one of freedom and letting go, where the fictional figure disappears carried by the wind.

© Magrit Dittmann Soldičić: KOLTRINA (11) or the Dance with the Wind, 3954 x 2866, 2023
At night, the wind carried me from the dark rooms to new shores, light and sea.
I left with a heavily loaded suitcase full of my dreams,
But the wind took the suitcase away, as if it were light as silk. I don’t need it anymore, yes, I can say that.
The wind wipes away even the last trace.
(Magritt Dittmann Soldičić, translated to English by Ana Malnar)
More about Magrit Dittmann Soldičić:
Website: https://madisol.de/
Anonymous
14/01/2025
"Die Geschichte und die Bilder berühren und regen zum Nachdenken an – sehr beeindruckend. Marion und Toni Gsellmann"
Anonymous
15/01/25
"sehr schön!"
Anonymous
15/01/25
"Sehr schön vielen Dank Walter"
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