wo artworks done inside Nazi concentration camps can be viewed at VIOLATED! Women in Holocaust and Genocide, Remember the Women Institute's international art exhibition opening at the Ronald Feldman Gallery, 31 Mercer Street, SoHo, New York City, at 6:00 - 8:00 PM on Thursday evening, April 12, 2018, and running for a month. These two small drawings, done in secret and borrowed from the Ghetto Fighters' House, Israel, join works by 28 other artists, including world renowned Judy Chicago, Nancy Spero, and Boris Lurie.
At a time when powerful men's sexual abuse of women is making daily headlines, this exhibition offers artistic representations of sexual violence with a much greater ratio of power to powerlessness--during the Holocaust and some later genocides. There were no conditions for a #MeToo movement for Holocaust survivors, and despite advances in technology and feminist ideology, this situation has not changed significantly for the victims of later genocides. The women were often murdered, and survivors were frequently silenced by their own unwarranted sense of shame. Those who spoke out were sometimes discouraged.
This trailblazing exhibition includes 47 cutting-edge works addressing sexual violation in a variety of media and styles. Exhibition curator is Dr. Batya Brutin and exhibition coordinator is Dr. Rochelle G. Saidel. The exhibition has an accompanying catalog, concurrent educational events, and a forthcoming on-line version. An April 15 matinee of dramatic readings at the gallery will complement the exhibition. The artists, from Israel, the United States, and other countries, include victims, their close relatives, witnesses, and concerned others.
In addition to Judy Chicago and Donald Woodman's Double Jeopardy (half-scale) from their Holocaust Project, there are two works each by Boris Lurie, and Nancy Spero. The other no less important works on sexual violence during the Holocaust are by: Ofri Akavia, Ayana Friedman, Nechama Golan, Shosh Kormosh, Judith Weinshall Liberman, Ella Liebermann-Shiber, Haim Maor, Naomi Markel, Anat Masad, Dvora Morag, Nezhnie (Muriel Helfman), Halina Olomucki, Zeev Porath (Wilhelm Ochs), Rachel Roggel, Hana Shir, Li Shir, Linda Stein, Yocheved Weinfeld, Gil Yefman, Racheli Yosef, and Dvora (Veg) Zelichov. Later genocides and ethnic cleansings, with echoes of sexual violence during the Holocaust, are portrayed by Rostam Aghala (Iraq), Regina José Galindo (Guatemala), Mitch Lewis (Darfur), Mary Mihelic (Nigeria), Manasse Shingiro (Rwanda), Gil Yefman with the women of the Kuchinate African Refugee Women's Collective (Eritrea), and Safet Zec (Bosnia).
The exhibition and catalog are projects of Remember the Women Institute, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to integrating women's stories into history. There is an Honorary Committee, as well as institutional partners.
Exhibition Honorary Committee: Dr. Constance Chen, Dr. Susan Chevlowe, Elissa Cohen, Joan Dean, Dr. Eva Fogelman, Marisa Fox-Bevilacqua, Patti Kenner, Hon. Carolyn B. Maloney, Mindy Mangot, Jessica Neuwirth, Consolee Nishimwe, Hon. Amy R. Paulin, Letty Cottin Pogrebin, Dr. Julie Ratner, Jean Bloch Rosensaft, Hon. Linda B. Rosenthal, Sheri Sandler, Shiri Sandler, Rachel Lulov Segall, Lorraine Sheinberg, Gloria Steinem, Marcy Syms, Diane von Furstenberg, Jenny Warburg, Lynda Weinman.
Exhibition Institutional Partners: Cardozo Law Institute in Holocaust and Human Rights; Consulate General of Israel, New York; Free Yezidi Foundation; Genocide Survivors Foundation; Ghetto Fighters' House; Kuchinate Collective; Kupferberg Holocaust Center at Queensborough Community College, CUNY; Ronald Feldman Gallery; Yahad-In Unum.