Date February 7, 2025

New Art at Watson exhibition 'Looming in the Shadows of Lodz' examines how memories of the Holocaust are passed down through generations

By Pete Bilderback

"Looming in the Shadows of Lodz," a new exhibition by photographer Leslie Starobin, opens at 280 Brook St. on February 13. Sponsored by Art at Watson, the show features Starobin's photographs from a "roots journey" to Poland. Coinciding with the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, "Looming in the Shadows of Lodz" illustrates how traumatic memories are passed down through generations.

Images from Looming In the Shadows of Lodz exhibition — "Looming in the Shadows of Lodz." Photo credit: Azurae Cruz

Looming In The Shadows of Lodz wall sign — "Looming in the Shadows of Lodz." Photo Credit: Pete Bilderback

In Art at Watson's latest exhibition, "Looming in the Shadows of Lodz" by Massachusetts-based artist Leslie Starobin, the past and the present collide with family and political history. Through photographs and text, the exhibition tells the story of two sisters who survived the Holocaust, their plight after liberation from Auschwitz-Birkenau, and how those memories have been passed down through generations.

The images, which Starobin calls "photo narratives," depict scenes from present-day Lodz, Poland and the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp, paired with captions drawn from the memories of the two sisters, relatives of Starobin.

"In challenging periods, art can serve as an educational catalyst," said Starobin. "'Looming in the Shadows of Lodz' underscores how artists interpret history through a personal lens, encouraging viewers to respond in part based on their lived experiences. Inviting meaningful dialogue and reflection, the artworks speak to those familiar and unfamiliar with this chapter in world history."

Starobin was inspired to create "Looming in the Shadows of Lodz" after a "roots journey" she made to Poland in 2019 with her husband and children. "We traveled on the 75th anniversary of our relatives' deportation to Auschwitz from the Lodz Ghetto, the last one to be liquidated by the Nazis," she said. "In Lodz, I photographed the Altman family residences, the cemetery where they hid from the Nazis, and the Radegast train station where they boarded cattle cars to the death camp."

“ In challenging periods, art can serve as an educational catalyst. 'Looming in the Shadows of Lodz' underscores how artists interpret history through a personal lens, encouraging viewers to respond in part based on their lived experiences. ”

Leslie Starobin

While the photos and text do not address Starobin's own lived experience, she noted the exhibition "examines how storytelling connects the generations in their quest to pass down and preserve familial narratives across time and space. By featuring one family's journey, this exhibition aspires to connect with contemporary viewers, some of whom might be uninformed about the Holocaust." Starobin said that "unraveling the threads of human memory" has long been central to her creative process.

Watson Senior Fellow Veronica Ingham, who co-managed the exhibition with Watson Communications Specialist and Writer Pete Bilderback, said, "We are living in challenging times, marked by wars, stark inequalities, and the urgent threat of climate change. Throughout history, other moments have similarly tested our shared humanity. The atrocities of the Holocaust during World War II serve as a stark reminder of the darkness that can emerge when empathy and understanding are lost."

"January 27, 2025, marked the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau," said Bilderback, "What happened there and the events that preceded and followed it are quickly passing from living memory. Today, we must increasingly rely on generational memory of the Holocaust to convey the horror of those events from a personal perspective. Leslie's artwork speaks powerfully toward that end." Ingham added, "We hope this exhibition will inspire reflection on our past, deepen our understanding of the present, and spark our imagination for a brighter future — a chance to rediscover our shared humanity."

The project emerged from decades of informal conversations Starobin had with her mother-in-law, Tola, and Tola's sister, Dorka Berger (née Altman). "The conversations were scattered over the years," said Starobin. "We might be sitting around the kitchen table, and something would happen late at night. And my mother-in-law would think of something that happened in the middle of the war, and she would just sort of start talking." Starobin carried a small digital recording device with her for such occasions.

Shorn of context, some of the photographs appear benign, even beautiful. A perfectly composed view of a tree from a window is framed by text from Dorka Berger: "May 1, 1940, began four horrible years in the ghetto. We had one room on the third floor. No running water. No toilets, only in the yard."

Other photographs are more menacing. Textbook history and personal family history collide violently in an image of the infamous entrance to the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp that is accompanied by text drawn from Starobin's mother-in-law's memory, "A Jewish Kapo is telling us quietly, 'Everybody is healthy. Everyone is young. If not, here is a window directly to heaven.'"

While the exhibition examines family history, it also preserves a personal narrative of events that are disappearing from living memory: both the Holocaust itself and the exodus of Jews from Europe — the Brihah — that happened in its aftermath. From the beginning of July 1945 to the end of September 1946, over 111,000 Jews left Poland for the British Mandate for Palestine with the Brihah. The Altman sisters, haunted by memories of the Holocaust and chastened by continuing discrimination and hatred, were among them.

"Dorka is the only relative alive to contribute further to this project," said Starobin. Some of the text is drawn from her recently discovered journal, "The Diary of Dwojra Altman," Dorka's long-lost chronicle from July 1945. Starobin noted that "although Dorka did not travel to Poland with us, she directed us emotionally from the sidelines," among other things, providing addresses and locations the family should visit.

Two days after the tour, the family flew to Israel, where Dorka Berger now resides, to continue the cross-generational dialog. "Dorka poured over the photographs from Poland while revealing new memories of the past," said Starobin.

"Now, as a widow, mother and grandmother, Dorka is the revered elder of the family," said Starobin. "Facing her mortality, she aspires to fulfill the Jewish commandment, 'L'haggid' ('And you should tell your children')." With "Looming in the Shadows of Lodz," Starobin honors the same commandment.

"Looming in the Shadows of Lodz" opens with a reception at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 13, on the first floor of Stephen Robert '62 Hall at 280 Brook St. in Providence, RI. All are welcome. After brief comments from the artist, a 20-minute video interview with Dorka Berger will be screened at the opening. The video will also be available to view online afterward.