CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

ON NOW AT THE JEWISH MUSEUM

Memory Works
3 - 28 May 2002

Memory Works is the first contemporary art exhibition to be shown by the Sydney Jewish Museum.  The opportunity to present the works by three Australian artists is significant at a time when the interpretation of Holocaust history by the second generation in various media is striking a chord with the public.

This mixed media art exhibition is being held at the Sydney Jewish Museum from 3 - 28 May 2002.  The exhibition features work by Naomi Ullmann, Ede Horton and Catherine Chauchat.

All three artists have utilised different media to explore the themes of memory and the history of the Holocaust in insightful and challenging ways.  Together the works speak about remembrance and reflect on openness, identity and collective memory.

Naomi Ullmann, the daughter of Holocaust survivors, explores the psychic and physical terrains of the Holocaust through her series of delicately painted and engraved glass postcards.  Her images link past to present and reflect upon symbols, family connections, places and objects of the Holocaust.  Ullmann is an accomplished young artist whose work is received as a thought-provoking response to the Jewish experience.

Ede Horton has produced a collection of miniature cast glass sculptures reflecting a historical narrative about change and consistency through the generations.  Her works are tangible objects about the intangible - migration, silence, loss and change.  Horton is also the daughter of Holocaust survivors, and her work as an artist is the result of her search for self-definition within the context of familial and collective memory.

A documentary film by Catherine Chauchat explores the contributions made to the Sydney Jewish Community by it's volunteer guides, and the important function of the Museum in educationg about the Holocaust.  We discover the volunteers in their homes and at the Museum, their motivation for speaking out and breaking the silence, and their healing processes.  The film will be screened within the exhibition, and in the Museum's theatrette.

The exhibition will be opened by Dr Faith Bandler AO, author and campaigner for rights for Indigenous Australians.  Dr Bandler is recognised as a forceful power within the advancement of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cause, and in 1967 was a director of the NSW referendum campaign which was instrumental in gaining equal citizenship for Aborigines under the Australian Constitution.  Her writings reflect the importance of remembrance and ensure that Aboriginal memories are preserved for the future.

"Memory has a curious quality.  It exists always in the present, yet refers to a time before"
Professor Andrew Jakubowicz

"New Exhibition Reveals Story of Exotic Haven"
OCTOBER 17 2001 - June 16 2002

Shanghai provided a haven in an exotic locale for thousands of Central European Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution. It was one of the few places in the world to accept Jewish refugees without visas.

During the Japanese occupation of Shanghai, the refugees were placed in a ghetto where they recreated Viennese and Berlin life.

Their fascinating story is told in a new exhibition, Crossroads: Shanghai & the Jews of China, opening at the Sydney Jewish Museum on October 17. It relates the story of Shanghai's polyglot Jewish community immediately before, during and after the Second World War.

Refugees made up the bulk of the community, but it also had an interesting mix of other groups, such as Sephardi (or Oriental) Jews, who came to Shanghai from the 1840s as traders, and Russian Jews, who came seeking economic opportunity or as a result of pogroms or revolution in Russia.

At its height, the community numbered over 25,000 and was the largest in East Asia.

The exhibition will feature over one hundred artifacts, never before seen in public, a specially commissioned video, and an extensive public program.

Jews from Shanghai, known as Shanghailanders, will provide another dimension to the exhibition by acting as guides.

Crossroads runs from 17th October 2001 until 16th June 2002.

Sydney Jewish Museum
148 Darlinghurst Rd
Darlinghurst
Ph: 9360 7999

Admission:
Adults $10
Children $5
Members Free

For more information, click here.