Art shows a new way to remember the past
Next week, The Sydney Jewish Museum will launch its new temporary exhibition The Fate of Things: Memory Objects and Art.
Developed by Australian artists Anne Zahalka and Sylvia Griffin, second-generation Holocaust survivors who address loss and family trauma in their works, attempting to make sense of their fragmented histories.
Through video, photography, assemblage, sculpture and textiles, the artists attempt to connect with lost family members and those never met, particularly female predecessors, to trace who they are today and how their characters have been formed over generations. Out of this process, the artists present an alternative experience of family heirlooms and archives through the frame of contemporary art.
Anne Zahalka is one of Australia’s most highly regarded photo-media artists, with an extensive career of exhibitions both in Australia and overseas. Her works are held in private collections and 
major cultural institutions. Anne’s Austrian mother was sent to London on the Kindertransport before eventually arriving in Australia.
Sylvia Griffin is an installation artist whose work has been exhibited nationally and internationally.She has been a finalist in several of Australia’s major art awards and prizes and holds a PhD from Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney. Sylvia’s parents, Hungarian Holocaust survivors, migrated with her siblings to Australia after the war.
Exhibition: The Fate of Things: Memory Objects and Art
When: 2 November 2018 – 28 February 2019
Where: Sydney Jewish Museum
Address: 148 Darlinghurst Road, Darlinghurst.
