Publication Date: January 19, 2022
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This is another in a series of Holocaust collages, where I try to give artistic context to what is impossible to contextualize. This piece is built around photographs of my visit to Majdanek Concentration Death Camp in Lublin, Poland. It felt obscene to take these pictures–almost a violation of the privacy of those shattered bones buried under an imposing dome.The visit was coordinated by Salem State University’s Center for Holocaust & Genocide Studies, with much thanks to Professors Chris Mauriello and Stephenie Young. This was a difficult day for many students on this trip, and even though as an adult I had familiarity with Nazi atrocity, I was unprepared for the enormous ash mausoleum commemorating the thousands of bodies murdered, then subsequently exhumed to have a final resting place. It is a holy place, with a silence that is fitting for how the senses pause when confronted with things impossible to understand. I have mixed feelings about what this collage accomplishes, as if I’m trying to draw attention away from the stark edifice of remembrance.