Closer: Portraits of Survival
Object numberM2017/015:006
TitleCloser: Portraits of Survival
Creator Katherine Griffiths
DescriptionKuba Enoch is one of the survivors photographed by Katherine Griffiths for the exhibition 'Closer: Portraits of Survival', sponsored by the JCA Szlamek and Ester Lipman Memorial Endowment Fund. Kuba has no war-time artefact to hold for the photoshoot. His last personal belonging of his pre-war life was a watch, gifted to him by his parents for his Bar Mitzvah. It was taken away from him on arrival in Auschwitz. In one fleeting moment, he was stripped of the tangible link to his family and his faith.
The survivor and the object are both witnesses to history and retainers of memory, embodiments of a traumatic past but also conduits to that past, vessels through which we can contemplate the profound and ongoing impact of the Holocaust.
In these photographs history and memory fuse seamlessly together. As the events of the Holocaust recede ever further into the past, it is the human as well as historical stories that the survivors and their objects convey that will emblazon this searing memory into the hearts and minds of succeeding generations. Through contemplating the stories of these individuals in tandem with the often humble, yet deeply significant objects they hold, the past is brought to bear in the present, compelling us to grapple with its meaning now and into the future.
The survivor and the object are both witnesses to history and retainers of memory, embodiments of a traumatic past but also conduits to that past, vessels through which we can contemplate the profound and ongoing impact of the Holocaust.
In these photographs history and memory fuse seamlessly together. As the events of the Holocaust recede ever further into the past, it is the human as well as historical stories that the survivors and their objects convey that will emblazon this searing memory into the hearts and minds of succeeding generations. Through contemplating the stories of these individuals in tandem with the often humble, yet deeply significant objects they hold, the past is brought to bear in the present, compelling us to grapple with its meaning now and into the future.
Production date 2016 - 2016
Subjectsurvivors, volunteers
Object namephotographs
Dimensions
- width: 295.00 mm
height: 210.00 mm
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Katherine Griffiths