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News Archive
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News Archive
The Soul of the People: Commemorating the Shoah
Will Open at Iona College's Art Center Gallery
A Holocaust Survivor Shares her Story Through Art and Poetry New Rochelle, NY, January 16, 2002 --- During the desperate years of terror she spend in Auschwitz, which her mother, sister, two younger brothers, grandfather, aunts and uncles, did not survive, Houston artist Alice Lok Cahana remembered. For more than thirty years, she has used art and poetry to keep alive the memory of those who perished during the travesty that was the Holocaust. Iona College proudly presents "The Soul of the People: Commemorating the Shoah" on Sunday, February 24, 2002 from 2:00 to 5:00 pm in the Brother Kenneth Chapman Gallery of the College's Arts Center on North Avenue in New Rochelle. This singular art exhibit and special film, performance, lecture and public discussion programs will continue through April 7, 2002. The art exhibit and all supporting programs are free and open to the public. In 1978, Cahana revisited her hometown of Sarvar, Hungary, and was shocked to find no remembrance of the vital pre-Holocaust Jewish community there. Since that time, she has devoted herself to painting, writing and speaking about the Holocaust. "In the concentration camp I told myself, if I survive, I must tell the story as I saw it. I painted for twenty years to develop the skill to tell it, and I wrote the first poem right after liberation, to challenge myself not to be silent," said Alice Lok Cahana. "My art today is about the Holocaust because I have no memorial for my people." Cahana's work has been seen widely throughout the United States, including a solo exhibition in The Rotunda of the United States Capitol in 1988. In addition, her art can be found in permanent collections throughout the world. In one evocative piece after another, Cahana distills the sheer horror, deprivation and death of the millions of men, women and children and creates a moving memorial of the Holocaust to "express the spirit of those who did not survive." In doing so, she not only doesn't stay silent, she raises her voice in the crucial effort to prevent future atrocities. Cahana is featured in the 1998 Academy Award winning best documentary The Last Days, by Steven Spielberg and The Shoah Foundation, which chronicles the experiences of five Hungarians who fell victim to Hitler's final genocidal push at the end of World War II. In the film, survivors journey back to their hometowns and to the places where they faced the Holocaust. Their eyewitness testimony and rare archival footage reveals the harrowing journey that meant death for millions and survival for very few. In addition to the exhibit opening, Cahana will participate in special programs that reflect her longtime dedication to "never forget." They include a Gallery Talk on Wednesday, February 27, at 7:30 pm and Thursday, February 28, at noon in Joyce Auditorium, at which the artist will discuss the works in the exhibit in the context of her Auschwitz experience. A film presentation of The Last Days by Steven Spielberg and the Shoah Foundation, which explores the stories of Hungarian Holocaust survivors, including that of the artist, will take place on Tuesday, March 5, at 11 am in Joyce Auditorium and on Thursday, March 7, at 7:30 pm in the Video Lecture Room in Iona's Arts Center. A film discussion, So Generations Never Forget What So Few Lived to Tell, will take place on Wednesday, March 6 at 3:30 pm in Joyce Auditorium. Facilitated by Bonnie Samotin, manager of Programs for the Education Department for Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, the organization founded by Steven Spielberg to record and preserve the testimonies of Holocaust survivors and witnesses, she researched and co-produced the film with June Beallor. Through My Mother's Eyes, a dramatization of the artist's poetry and memoirs interwoven with period music, created by Rabbi Michael Z. Cahana and Cantor Ida Rae Cahana, the artist's son and daughter-in-law, will take place on Wednesday, March 13, at 7:30 pm in Joyce Auditorium. On Tuesday, March 19, at 7:30 pm in Joyce Auditorium, Iona will present a lecture The History of Christian Religious Intolerance: From Conflict to Healing by Dr. Leo Lefebure, associate professor of Systematic Theology at Fordham University. The series concludes on Thursday, April 4, at noon, with a public discussion Reflections on Intolerance, offering the College community and the general public the opportunity to discuss their reactions to The Soul of the People with Holocaust survivors. Attendees are welcome to bring a bag lunch. The Soul of the People: Commemorating the Shoah and its associated special programming have been prepared by a college-wide committee chaired by Provost Warren Rosenberg as a joint effort of Iona College's Brother John G. Driscoll Professorship in Jewish-Catholic Studies, the College's Council on the Arts and its Program of Peace and Justice Studies and The Frances & Benjamin Benenson Foundation, Inc. The Brother John G. Driscoll Professorship was established through the generosity of Jack'86H and Susan Rudin. This endowment enables Dr. Elena Procario-Foley, the first Driscoll Professor, to direct the study and celebration of the relationship between Jewish and Catholic cultures and beliefs. The Driscoll Professorship reflects Iona College's mission to prize the values of justice, peace and interreligious dialogue, and has created vibrant collaborations with other organizations such as The American Jewish Committee, the Archaeology Institute of America, The New Rochelle Coalition for Mutual Respect, and many local houses of worship. The Iona College Council on the Arts is funded by the Baron Lambert Fund for the Arts, through the generosity of JoAnn and Joseph M. Murphy '59, '83H. The Brother Kenneth Chapman Gallery is open Monday through Friday, noon to 5 pm, Thursday from 6:30 to 8 pm and Saturday and Sunday, from 2 to 5 pm. The Gallery is closed Monday, March 25 through Monday, April 1 in observance of Easter and Passover. For more information, please call (914) 637-7796 or visit our web site at www.iona.edu/artscouncil.
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