A Young Man. A Middle-Aged Man.

This work is 'work in progress' and concerns the problem of finding individuals amongst the innumerable dead of the Holocaust. It's also concerned with the idea of showing that victims of the Holocaust had lives before the terrible events of the time, by looking at the provenance of mundane objects which we all possess today; objects similar to those found when the camps were finally liberated.

Description

People were asked to bring in a case or bag with the following items:

An item of clothing
A pair of shoes
One or more family photographs
A personal artefact
A regularly used household item
One grooming item (hairbrush, toothbrush etc.)

Unpacking

With the bags collected, I began the task of unpacking them...

Documenting

... and documenting their contents.

A pair of shoes.

A personal artefact.

One or more family photographs.

An Item of clothing.

A regularly used household item.

One grooming item (hairbrush, toothbrush etc.)

The Pile

Once, I'd recorded all the items, they were then placed in a pile in the centre of the room.

First Viewing

Those who'd left bags and those who hadn't come in to view the piles of clothes and possessions.

Sound Piece 1

Sorting the Piles

Following the first sound piece, the piles of clothes were sorted into their categories, as listed above.

Sound Piece 2

Participants viewed the individual piles and then carried out a second sound piece which again required them to read from a list of descriptions. This time however, everyone was positioned separately from one another. Once this was completed, those who had brought bags reclaimed them and took back their possessions.