It is January 2026, and at the end of 2025 we saw a trend pop up again. 2026 is the new 2016. Photos from ten years ago are shared or resurface with the filters of that time. Somewhat familiar to me. Because nostalgia works: songs that played on the radio ten years ago immediately bring back images and feelings.
In 2016 I was 35. And that already seems like a lifetime ago. When I look at the period when I myself was ten to fifteen, in the nineties, ten years then again does not feel that long ago. And since then an enormous amount has changed again.
What does that period bring back?
It is about images and memories of how something was or felt. In the eighties and nineties photography was still purely analogue: grainy prints, colours that fade and images captured on paper. I did not consciously experience that period of photography myself, I only look back at it through family albums, which are now mostly digital and less tangible. Those photos give an immediate sense of recognition, a feeling of authenticity that digital rarely matches.
Nostalgia in uncertain times
I think that now, in 2026, we look back because life feels faster and heavier and so much changes quickly. Nostalgia arises in uncertain times as a way to remember what was good. A TV series from the nineties, a concert without distraction or a screen, a sunset in 2016 with friends. A Christmas at grandparents who are no longer here.
You also see it in the growing accounts with AI-generated images of bygone periods. They play on that feeling. It is also striking that these images are mainly from the eighties to the 2000s.
How this influences my work
For me it is a reminder of real moments: a conversation without a screen in between, an evening that was simply allowed to last. It motivates me to make more conscious choices now, instead of going along with the stream of expectations.
In my own work I try to hold on to that feeling on purpose. I look for recognition in situations, wait more and make images that still bring something back later: an emotion, an insight, a sense of continuity. That is the most important thing in what I try to show.
Which period from the past will come back to you most strongly in ten years?
Stefan