The 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz
January 2025
Krakow, Poland
I mentioned in my previous post that I was flying to Krakow to take part in an exhibition "Echoes of Hope: Art and Memory of the Holocaust". The event, supported by the director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Krakow, commemorates the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. It honours the victims of the Nazi-fascist regime and explores their memories and resilience. The exhibition not only aims at keeping the memory of the Holocaust alive, but it also takes a strong stance against the surge of hatred and intolerance that is currently sweeping the world.
I’ll be screening my short film ‘A Time to Mourn, A Time to Dance’. Narrated by mum, she recalls an incident that occurred 80 years earlier while she was an inmate at Auschwitz concentration camp. Her story - in this living hell - focuses on a small gesture of kindness which became her guiding light and a symbol, for her, that there is still hope for humanity.
Even though mum was far away in Australia, the very fact that her movie was screening over and over again made me feel that she was there with me during my week in Krakow.
I arrived on 15.1.25, the day before the opening. I gradually met the other artists - from Italy, Germany and England, as well as the man who gave birth to this project - the curator and author, Salvatore Trapani. Salvatore was born in Sicily, not Jewish, but from a young age he has been consumed by the Holocaust, and is on an eternal quest to prevent such an atrocity from reoccurring. Salvatore lives in Berlin and works at both the Ravensbrück Concentration Camp Memorial and the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp Memorial. He also works as an art historian at the Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe.
A couple of years ago he published his book ‘Confronting the Holocaust’. The second section is dedicated to the artists he defines as ‘empathic’, and one of the chapters was devoted to my work.
And so, when this project ‘Echoes of Hope’ was in its infancy, Salvatore contacted me, described his vision, and commissioned a new piece of work. He believes that Art makes memory eternal. He explained: ‘The survivors die, and we all must pass, even the artists, but their work continues to give meaning and carries the memory, forever. Art and love will save the world’
He hoped I could make a piece that would touch on goodness and hope - something heartfelt and empathic - in spite of the current global atmosphere full of concern and dread.
To be continued….
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