The Fate of Things: Memory Objects and Art

The Fate of Things: Memory Objects and Art

An exhibition with Anne Zahalka and Sylvia Griffin addressing loss and family trauma
Sydney Jewish Museum – 148 Darlinghurst Rd, Darlinghurst
2 November 2018 – 28 February 2019
Photography: Giselle Haber

Artists, Anne Zahalka and Sylvia Griffin address loss and family trauma in their collaborative exhibition at the Sydney Jewish Museum, attempting to piece together and make sense of fragmented histories. Both women are first-generation Australians with Jewish heritage: during the war Anne Zahalka’s Austrian mother was sent to London on the kindertransport before eventually arriving in Australia; Sylvia Griffin’s parents, Hungarian Holocaust survivors, migrated with her siblings to Australia after the war. The works in this exhibition refer to transgenerational (or postmemory) trauma – recalling stories and histories shared through family stories, but not directly experienced. They reflect the artists’ own reactions and stories stemming from this heritage and their attempts to emotionally reconnect with lost family members, particularly their female predecessors. Presenting videos, photographs, assemblages, sculptures and textiles, with personal objects interwoven amidst many of these works, the artists link with, but also question their respective family’s fractured pasts.

Read an interview with me about the motivations behind some of the works in the exhibition

For more information:
sydneyjewishmuseum.com.au