I was very move to see the work of Bernard Fiszauf, an Holocaust survivor who used Art as therapy to help with the trauma he endured.
His daughter presenting this artwork representing Auschwitz concentration camp. Bernard Fiszauf insisted that people must look at THE GREEN SIDE OF THE PAINTING not just the barbwire and the red. THE GREEN COLOUR REPRESENTS OF HOPE, AND IT IS THERE. Similarly as I wrote in my Artist statement on my artwork 'THE IMMORTAL WATCHWOMAN– SIMONE VEIL – LA VEILLEUSE IMMORTELLE' I wanted to represent Simone Veil in her 'Habit Vert', HER GREEN JACKET OF THE IMMORTALS. Indeed she was
invited to joined the Académie Française which symbolically enthroned its members as Immortals. Upon receiving her Immortal sward she will say ' I have gone past the idea of Immortality a long time ago, since I died already, a little, in the concentration camps.' |
Jo Humphreys - organiser and Councilor for Whitton- talking about the Holocaust 75 Memorials
The very moving exhibition 75 Memorials featured works from Holocaust survivor, local artists and school children.
'What strikes me most about SIMONE VEIL is that less than 6 months after surviving the inhumanity Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp where she had been deported with her sister
and her whole family, where she lost her father, mother and brother; she decides to go back to school to study, to excel to become a Civil servant of the country that has rounded up her whole family and sent them to a concentration camp. She decides to live and to serve.' As an avid defender of European unity, SIMONE VEIL will then be the first woman to be elected President of the European Parliament. 'The Holocaust is the only crime which was allowed to happen on such scale without any specific written order. -A crime without trace: no specific written order -A crime without tombs: People were gased, written off -A crime without remains: the survivors have no place to mourn those they lost -A crime with no place for Jewish people to hide and escape. They were rounded up by their own countries -A crime with NO REASON. This must lead us all to ALWAYS BE VIGILANT and speak up on issues and voice our concerns, because the root causes of inhumanity are never far once memory fade. Thus, we shall keep wake like the Immortal watchwoman that is SIMONE VEIL. Let's keep wake. On Veil. -ARTIST STATEMENT BY SHANA de CARSIGNAC MONGWANGA- |