An art project in Manchester will commemorate the holocaust in poems displayed at Piccadilly Railway Station, Manchester. On Holocaust Memorial Day (27th January 2009) poetic texts created by older people, many of whom are holocaust survivors, will be displayed on the giant electronic billboard at Piccadilly Station, Manchester. The holocaust has often been linked to trains: millions of people, particularly Jews, were taken to concentration camps by train before being killed in the notorious nazi Final Solution during the Second World War. This artwork will give fragments from accounts of their journeys: to destruction and journeys of escape.
http://www.arthur-and-martha.co.uk/pages/kindness%20samples.htm Artist Lois Blackburn and poet Philip Davenport from the arthur+martha arts organisation have been working with older Jewish people at The Morris Feinmann Home, Manchester, exploring memories of and meditations on the holocaust. John Collins from Imperial War Museum North has worked with the team, bringing objects and personal stories from the museum collection to discuss.“This work is made up of family histories, refugee backgrounds and direct holocaust memories,” says Davenport. “We are interested in the bric-a-brac of people’s lives, the tiny moments, rather than grand history. Sometimes these little things can illuminate a far bigger picture.”
Maria Turner, Activities Co-ordinator at the Morris Feinmann Home, described the effect of arthur+martha’s work: “In a very sensitive and caring approach, the project has enabled our residents to talk about their experiences and express their feelings.”
