RE: [Leica] Pictures at an exhibition (was: Country of origin)

[Jem Kime <jem.kime@cwcom.net>]

Paul,
I'm not sure if the exhibition you saw was Simon Norfolk's 'For Most of It 
I Have No Words', the first part sounds like it might have been, though the 
second part doesn't. But I saw his work and was moved by the tragedy of it 
also. The silent bittersweet beauty of scenes where memories will always 
linger was a powerful statement. The work was also created into a book, 
published by Dewi Lewis Publishing. Worth looking at.

regards,
Jem

- -----Original Message-----
From:	Paul Chefurka [SMTP:Paul_Chefurka@pmc-sierra.com]
Sent:	04 December 2000 17:32
To:	'leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us'
Subject:	[Leica] Pictures at an exhibition (was: Country of origin)

>-----Original Message-----
>From: aruby@rci.rutgers.edu [mailto:aruby@rci.rutgers.edu]
>Sent: Monday, December 04, 2000 11:35 AM
>To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
>Subject: Re: [Leica] Country of origin

>Besides, the holocaust perpetrated by
>the Nazis was neither the most lethal nor the most terrible;
>history, sadly
>20th century history in particular has amply demonstrated that fact.

Speaking as a man of Ukranian descent, Aaron, I'd have to agree with you. 
 Stalin and the Ukranians, the Armenian genocide, Pol Pot in Cambodia, the 
Rwandan massacres - some days it feels like there's an macabre 
international competition going on.

To keep this vaguely on topic, on Saturday I visited the Canadian Museum of 
Contemporary Phototgraphy here in Ottawa.  This is a place that usually 
shows art photos like one exhibition of photos of sticks stuck in sand (and 
their shadows...) - well, this time they outdid themselves.

It was an exhibit on genocide, in two parts.  The first part was a set of 
technically immaculate photos (in medium format with many panoramics) taken 
on the current grounds of Auschwitz.  The barracks, the ponds lined with 
ashes, a terrifying b&w inside a bare concrete gas chamber, lit with just 
the naked hanging bulbs.  Each photo was accompanied by a description of 
the original use of the place in the picture, many with reproductions of 
the architects' drawings.

The second half of the exhibit was enlargements of identity photos of Khmer 
Rouge victims, taken just before they were killed.  Just faces, with their 
ID numbers hanging on a tag around their necks and the marks of their 
beatings prominently visible.  Two hundred photos, two hundred sets of eyes 
- - dazed, confused, terrified, disbelieving, resigned eyes.

The combined effect of those exhibits was devastating.  The most awful 
feeling for me was that I wanted with all my heart to say "Never again", 
but the evidence wass all too clear that this will keep happening because 
of the ability we have to think of other people as things.  I can only hope 
thatphotographs like this will help counteract that tendency.

Paul