Pearl Hirshfield
Artworks
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Shadows of Auschwitz,1989 Installation Shadows of Auschwitz is a "Z" shaped walk-through installation commemorating the victims of the most infamous German concentration camp on Polish soil. Viewers enter a dark space to see constructions evoking a deportation car, a series of shadows produced by revolving lights evoking the camp perimeter, and a mirror array where one's own image appears with a concentration camp number across it. |
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Shadows of Auschwitz, 1989 Installation Billions of words have been published in books, periodicals and media since the end of World War II, including the widely circulated films and photos of the atrocities in the death camps and ghettos, but the enormity of all that happened during the Holocaust has yet to be explained. |
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Shadows of Auschwitz,1989 Installation Each survivor's story, each victim's story, is different and I cannot get past the feeling, "It could have been me." |
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Shadows of Auschwitz,1989 Installation Mirror array is covered with Auschwitz survivors' numbers, beginning with Primo Levi, 178514. Others are added as the artist meets and records stories of survivors. Thus, this aspect of the exhibition is never static. Revolving lights produce shadows resembling the concrete support posts for the camp perimeter. Barbed wire holding up part of the fence creates a camp image. |
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Shadows of Auschwitz,1989 Installation A view looking back to the mirror array, a quote by Primo Levi on the wall, and the exit, with documentation from the Auschwitz Survivor's association in Israel. |
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Shadows of Auschwitz,1989 Installation The quote from Italian survivor Primo Levi comes from his short story, "The Coin, " which is repeated in his last book, The Drowned and the Saved. Levi's suggestion seems to be that genocide is always lurking. Germany, one of the most civilized nations of Europe, was the main instigator of the Holocaust. |
Artist Statement
Hirshfield is from Chicago. Shadows of Auschwitz is a light, shadow and mirror array memorializing the victims and survivors of Auschwitz, and also reminds us that we might become victims as well. On entering, the numbers 58/2364 were on the Jaworzno-Chrzanow train bound for Auschwitz that was derailed by partisans. "Bieli" and "Nizzenzohn" are the artists parents names. "Eingang" (Entrance) suggests entrance to a train ramp. On the mirror, the first number is that of Primo Levi. The artist collects the numbers and keeps them in a tephillan (phylactery) pouch at her home. The exit shows actual testaments from Holocaust survivors, collected by the artists. Billions of words have been published in books, periodicals and media since the end of World War II, including the widely circulated films and photos of the atrocities in the death camps and ghettos, but the enormity of all that happened during the Holocaust has yet to be explained. Each survivor's story, each victim's story, is different and I cannot get past the feeling, "It could have been me." In some way it was.
As a child, and as a first-generation American growing up in a vibrant Jewish community in Chicago, I felt protected and secure. With the early rumblings of Hitler, my world changed. I gradually became aware that anxiety and fear for loved ones left behind in Europe began to permeate my parents' lives and those of our immigrant neighbors. Letters from my father's parents and mother's relatives ceased abruptly at the beginning of the war. After my children were born, I continued the search for the missing pieces. It has become a quest for answers.
Shadows of Auschwitz is a walk-through installation constructed for viewers to enter, one person at a time. The numbers on the structure are tattoos sent to me by survivors who responded to the work-in-progress. Their names are inscribed on a separate scroll kept in a phylactery pouch. Other numbers are from the 1942-43 ledgers retrieved from Auschwitz.
As Shadows of Auschwitz is an ongoing work, numbers are continually added to the installation and names to the scroll as they are received. I continue to attempt to make sense out of this and other events through my work.
Teaching Applications
Questions:
- What does this installation say about the aesthetics of Holocaust representation?
- How has the artist used many different forms of media in this work?
- Is this a recreation of Auschwitz?
- What is the effect of the viewer seeing his own reflection from the mirrors covered with numbers?
- What is meant by the quote from Primo Levi?