9-15-21
Stories of Survival: Object. Image. Memory. is a landmark exhibit that showcases more than 60 never-before-seen personal items brought to America by Survivors of the Holocaust and genocide. The exhibition makes its Cleveland debut October 27, 2021 through February 27, 2022 at the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage located at 2929 Richmond Road in Beachwood, Ohio.
Each artifact is dramatically showcased alongside oversized photographs by renowned documentarian Jim Lommasson with handwritten responses by Survivors or their family members. The objects are as every day as a baby doll and a black suitcase and as symbolic as a young mother’s cookbook and a wedding announcement—saved by local Survivors from genocides around the world, including Armenia, Bosnia, Cambodia, Iraq, Rwanda, South Sudan, and Syria.
The objects are a reflection of their owners’ journeys and family histories. And though the objects and memories start from very different origins, from Germany to Belgium to Armenia to Syria, common threads bind them all together. These are the threads that bind us all, the common story of moving to a new land, building a new life, yet holding on to the past. We are all connected to these stories; we have them in our own families. They are the commonality of an immigrant experience, an American experience.
Stories of Survival: Object. Image. Memory. is a project of the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center with photography by Jim Lommasson, an award-winning photographer and author living in Portland, Oregon. He is represented in the permanent collections at The Library of Congress, San Francisco Museum of Art, The Portland Art Museum, Yale University, Reed College, The George Eastman Museum, The New Orleans Museum of Art, Hallie Ford Museum and The University of Washington.
In celebration of opening week, the Maltz Museum invites the public to a special launch event on Wednesday, October 27 at 7pm hosted on Zoom, featuring the exhibitions co-creators, curator Arielle Weininger and photographer Jim Lommasson. Tickets are $5 general and free for members.
The celebration continues the rest of the week with reduced rate tickets to see the exhibition in-person at the Maltz Museum. Tickets will be available for only $5 for general admission. Members are always free. “Five Dollar Week” will run Wednesday, October 27 to Sunday, October 31. Masks are required for entry and social distancing is enforced.
Admission pricing after opening week is as follows, General: $12, Students & Seniors: $10, Children 5 – 11: $5, Children under 5 and Maltz Museum Members: Free
Visitors will be able to explore the exhibition one of two ways:
· Online via virtual tour
· In-person at the museum
Public virtual tours will be offered the first and third Tuesday of every month at 2pm, November through February. Private virtual tours are booking now. For more information on public virtual tours, visit www.maltzmuseum.org and for private virtual tours, please contact tours@mmjh.org.
Coordinating pubic programs will also be offered online and in-person, through weekly and monthly series, such as:
· The Holocaust Speaker Series, presented for free in partnership with the Holocaust & Humanities Center in Cincinnati. First, second, and third generation Holocaust survivors tell their stories over Zoom. Get close to history by talking with the people who lived it.
· Documentary Film Series on the Holocaust & Genocide, presented for free in partnership with Classrooms Without Borders. Watch award-winning documentary films each month at home. Then, join together for talk-backs with subject matter experts on the Holocaust and genocides that occured in Armenia, Cambodia, Rwanda, and Syria.
· Becoming American, a series that investigates what it means to become an American as a refugee or immigrant. Interactive storytelling workshops and lectures on themes of identity, assimilation, and the American Dream.
For more information or to purchase tickets, call 216-593-0575 or visit www.maltzmuseum.org
