Blog

April 28, 2016

A picture worth a thousand words

For the past few years, the exhibition team has been pouring over thousands of images, debating which one is best suited for each section.

The Museum’s original Holocaust exhibition contained 181 images.  The new display will have 270 image plus hundreds of more in interactives and films.  Despite this greatly expanded scope, tough decisions had to be made and there were many heated debates.

Some images were essential and all were in agreement, like the powerful images from the Auschwitz Album from Yad Vashem.

Highlighting the Sydney Jewish Museum collection was a priority Such as this image donated by Holocaust Survivor Olga Horak showing the antisemitism in her native Slovakia.

Despite the abundance of material, there were areas the team struggled to find photographs.  One difficult area was resistance in the ghetto.  The images from the Warsaw ghetto were taken from the perspective of the perpetrators and thus do not capture the heroic resistance on the Jews.

Each team member had an image that particularly resonated with them and for it to be included a compelling case would have to be made as to why it was the best choice.  We have all won and lost some of these debates but the process has led to the best possible outcome.  Visitor can rest assured that every image has been very carefully considered.

Author – Shannon Biederman, Curator