June 20, 2016

Stories of Migration: Contemporary Artists Interpret Diaspora

Robert Bein, "Boat Travelers" (detail), 2015.  The George Washington University Museum.
This exhibit sounds great! 

Stories of Migration: Contemporary Artists Interpret Diaspora
https://museum.gwu.edu/diaspora

"In this timely exhibition, forty-four artists share personal and universal stories of migration—from historic events that scattered communities across continents to today’s accounts of migrants and refugees adapting to a new homeland. Co-organized with Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) and with assistance from George Washington University’s Diaspora Program in the Elliott School of International Affairs."

Here are the exhibit details:

Through Sept 4, 2016

The George Washington University Museum and
The Textile Museum

701 21st Street, NW
Washington, DC 20052
Phone: 202-994-5200
museuminfo@gwu.edu

The artworks from this exhibit shown on the website are very powerful images. They are inspirational on both levels of creating art and of celebrating the human spirit in the midst of trauma.

Over the last couple of years, I have been gradually gathering information on my father's and uncle's escape from Germany in 1939 and on the other members of my family who were killed in the Holocaust.  I'd never considered making a quilt about them all!

The photo below was probably taken about 1915.  The little boy on the left is my dad.  In September 1939, he sailed out headed for New York City on the ill-fated British ship the Athenia, which was torpedoed by a U-boat on the day that England and Germany declared war.  He was rescued from the ocean the next morning by a merchant marine ship.  Neither of my grandparents were able to leave Germany in time, and most of their siblings perished as well.



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