Susan May Tell

A Requiem

Photographs

Barbed Wire GAte Graveyard Gaurd House Lock
Spoons View Furnace Drawing in Barracks
Barracks Valises Maze Tank
Furnaces Stream Vent Daisy

Artist Statement

In Auschwitz, I felt the presence of its ghosts guiding me, guiding my camera, and was then, and continue to be now, moved to share this place's tale of tragedy through the images I saw through my lens.

This work combines my life experiences and Jewish heritage with poetic and photographic influences: poets William Carlos Williams and Stanley Kunitz; and photographers André Kertesz, Walker Evans, and Roy DeCarava. I consider my Auschwitz images to be poetic images that profoundly illustrate what I strive for in my work: neither form nor content overwhelms the other and the tension between them remains unresolved.

Equally important to my artistic vision is my commitment to Auschwitz as a meditation on decay and memory. Like others' sacred grounds that have been neglected and are decaying, (i.e. Rwanda and Cambodia), Auschwitz today is disappearing. The loss of its spirirtual presence raises major questions about whether places of this kind, and others such as NYC's World Trade Center, should be restored and the importance of memory and commemoration.

"A Requiem" shares a common perspective with all peoples who have experienced violence and loss. I created this exhibition to provide a visceral experience: for visitors to feel the presence of unspeakable horror, convey the ever present pathos of desolation, and give a real sense of the large scale of this death camp. My intention is to touch a respondent chord in a diverse and wide group of nationalities, religions, and cultures. In turn, "A Requiem" will create a dialogue about killing fields the world over and the universal problems of hate and evil.

"We learn, as the thread plays out, that we belong Less to what flatters us than to what scars." - Stanley Kunitz.

Exhibition Space

ExhibitExhibitExhibit

My goal is for viewers, upon seeing these photographs—the relics, and abandoned property of the former camp—to feel the pain, suffering and experiences of those who were imprisoned.

The exhibition places visitors inside this landscape by suspending the large scale photographs from the ceiling in a winding path. Visitors will walk along this path as if they were walking through Auschwitz itself.

  1. Seventeen photographs, each printed 6 x 4 feet, on fiber based photo paper, printed by Modernage, NYC. Sam Mellon of CATE (Curatorial Assistance in Pasadena) creatively solved how to mount the photos: on 1/8" black sintra and attached to wood strainers, with adjustable length cable on top to adjust to the ceiling height of the venue. These photographs can be mounted on the wall, hang singly, or be attached back-to-back with velcro on the strainers. There are 16 images in the exhibition, but one image was printed twice, the second as a reverse, through which viewers can enter the exhibition space. Each photograph (mounted, strainer, cable) weighs about 15 lbs.
  2. All seventeen images are in one museum crate—specially designed and constructed by CATE—which holds the entire exhibition. The crate measures 82 x 57 x 31 inches.
  3. The installation was opened in November 2005—after its initial exhibition at the Museum of Art / Fort Lauderdale.
    1. Susan May Tell Photography
    2. Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale
    3. A Requiem installation

Biography

Susan May Tell is an award-winning staff photographer for The New York Post. A founding member of Saba Press Photos, Tell's photos have appeared on the covers of Time and Newsweek and in major publications worldwide. For LIFE Magazine she shot The Women Fighters of the EPLF (Eritrean Peoples Liberation Front). In Kuwait she had lunch with Yasser Arafat at his invitation. She began her photojournalistic career in 1983 as a freelance for The New York Times, later working for Saba, based first in Cairo and then in Paris. The first one-person exhibition of her fine art photography appeared in San Francisco in 1982.

One Person Exhibition of "A Requiem: Photographs of Auschwitz": Museum of Art/Fort Lauderdale, April 8—October 30, 2005. Reviewed by ARTnews.

Exhibitions, One-Person and Group Include: Museum of Art/Fort Lauderdale; National Arts Club; Hudson River Museum; Forbes Gallery; Avenue B. Gallery; New York University East Galleries; University of California, San Francisco; Camera Club of New York.

Awards Include: Prix de la Photographie: 2007; International Color Awards: 2006; International Photography Awards: 2005; New York Press Photographers: 2002, 2001, 1999, 1998; World Press Photo: 1987..

Publications Include: Time; Newsweek: US News & World Report; The New York Times Magazine; New York Times; New York Magazine; New York Post; Washington Post; Los Angeles Times; Liberation; L'Express; VSD; Interview; Economist; Sunday Times of London; Business Week; Forbes.

Professional Affiliations Include: ASMP, ASMPNY, EP, NPPA, NYPPA, SAA, ASPP.

Education Includes: Photography Workshops with Garry Winogrand, Helen Gee, Roy DeCarava; M.A. in Counseling Psychology, Columbia University; B.A. in American Literature, Syracuse University.