ID IDENTITY, 2016-21

Series comprises of interviews, paintings and sculptures. Each series of works was inspired by an interview with the Survivor

Interviews with the Survivors

Baruch ‘Brian’ Bergman New York, The USA

Brian’s story is remarkable because he managed to escape six times from transports to concentration camps.

Brian's story

Brian’s story 1, 160 x 160cm, oil on canvas

Brian,2017,150x240cm,oil on canvas.jpg

Brian’s story, diptych, H 150cm, W 240cm,D 2.5cm, oil on canvas

Brian’s story 3, 163x163cm, oil on canvas

ZDENKA FANTLOVA,

NAZI VICTIM, SURVIVED 6 CONCENTRATION DEATH CAMPS

165x165cm 168x155cm, oil on canvas

168x160cm 165x165cm 150x160cm, oil on canvas

Brian story, 160x110cm .jpg

Brian’s story 4, Brian story, 160cm x110cm

Alina Dąbrowska, Warsaw, Poland

Alina was arrested by Gestapo and taken to prison for 13 months. Concentration Camps- Ravensbruck, Malcow, Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Lipsk

Numerous medical experiments were conducted on Alina Dąbrowska

Alina's story, dyptych, H 160cm, W 220cm, D 3.5cm, oil on canvas, collage

Janusz Kuć, Warsaw, Poland

Nazi Victim, Warsaw Uprising 1944. Prisoner at Stalag XI B, Fallingbostel and Stalag VI J Dorsen.

Video credit Karol Wasilka

ID’44 Kuc story, dyptych, 160 x 150cm and 190 x 170cm, oil on canvas

Jadwiga Więch Komorowska, Warsaw, Poland

Nazi Victim, Warsaw Uprising 1944

Video credit Karol Wasilka

Jadwiga’s story, triptych, oil on canvas, 165 x 128cm and 165 x 145cm and 165 x 128cm

Fred Brylowicz, New Jersey, The USA

Nazi Victim, Artillery observer in the Battle of Monte Casino

Fred’s story, triptych, oil on canvas, mixed media, 280x150cm,

Fred's story2, diptych, 320x129cm, oil on canvas

Daniela Ogińska, Warsaw, Poland

Nazi Victim, Warsaw Uprising 1944

140x92cm 151x100cm 80x100cm, oil on canvas

Juliette Bergman, Brian Bergman’s wife, 9/11 Survivor

140x110cm 140x100cm 140x90cm, oil on canvas

Juliette’s story, dyptych, 160x280cm, oil on mdf board

Wiesława Gołąbek, Wrocław, Poland

Nazi Victim, Auschwitz Concentration Camp

150x430cm, oil on canvas, triptych

Władysław Jarosz, London

Warsaw Uprisisng 1944

LESZEK ŻUKOWSKI, WARSAW, POLAND

NAZI VICTIM, WARSAW UPRISING 1944, SURVIVED MANY CONCENTRATION CAMPS

The textures of the gas chamber walls at Auschwitz serve as the backgrounds for these tapestries—solemn tributes to the memory of those who lost their lives.

PORTRAITS OF THE SURVIVORS

29.7x42cm each

ink, watercolour on paper

This series was inspired by interviews with the Holocaust Survivors, Warsaw Uprising Survivors and political prisoners. In a period of 6 years I interviewed 38 people and some of the interview are available to watch under the link below ‘Interviews with the Survivors’.

“I do not regard suffering as ennobling and, although there are numerous examples of extraordinary bravery and compassion during the war and the Holocaust, I regard those days as ones primarily of bleak and violent destruction. Certainly, one can see how some people triumphed over adversity through what Primo Levi called “moments of reprieve” – but I would also add that their biographies probably also include stories of death and destruction which are being downplayed in order to emphasise the “triumph”. Anyone who lived through those years and survived them in Nazi-occupied Poland or in the Nazi ghettos and camps, saw things which do not give us confidence where human behaviour is concerned. Some of them are in evidence in Agata’s paintings. (…)

These are works whose intensity provokes multiple responses and which urge the viewer to learn as well as to respond emotionally. This is why they deserve to be viewed and why they are such powerful starting points for interacting with and thinking about difficult subjects.”

Article by Prof. Dan Stone

Professor of Modern History and Director of the Holocaust Research Institute at RHUL