Hypomnemata
2019
Included in Rae Stern: In Fugue
Handmade Paper
Hypomnema; Shoshana (Rossa) 28" x 20.5"
Hypomnema; Kate 71" x 33.5"
Hypomnema; Lili 38" x 27.5
Hypomnema; Regina 34.5" x 22"
Hypomnema; Aennie 70" x 45"
A special thanks goes to Shannon Brock for her advisory on this body of work.
2019-2020 at Belger Arts, Kansas City, MO
2021-2022 at the Leon Family Gallery, at the UJA Tidewater, VA.
The exhibition Rae Stern: In Fugue debuted new works in porcelain and paper and focuses on the elusive and ephemeral nature of memory as both a personal and universal phenomenon. The exhibition included two bodies of work, the Outside Time installation and the Hypomnemata; hanging works in paper.
To create the large scale translucent paper, Stern manipulated the thickness of the pulp without using any pigment. The daylight shines through the thinner parts of the handmade paper, exposing the image.
In this work, Stern revisit the photographs of five young women, whose stories and images she collected for the Outside Time installation. The illuminated youthful gazes, are contrasted by the tragic events that later unfolded in their lives.
Stern wonders which medium is the most suitable for these fleeting memories. While juxtaposing the paper with the porcelain she asks:
“If each material has its own set of vulnerabilities, which will outlast the other? How dependent is our collective memory on our choice of medium?”
Shoshana (Rossa) Zif, age 17, Luknik, Lithuania, ca. 1940. From the personal archive of Bella Tzidkiyahu.
From left:
Hypomnema; Shoshana (Rossa), 2019, Handmade paper, 28" x 20.5"
Based on a photograph from the personal archive of Bella Tzidkiyahu.
Bella’s mother, Shoshana (Rossa) Zif, was photographed at age 17. Luknik, Lithuania, ca. 1940.
Hypomnema; Kate, 2019, Handmade paper, 71" x 33.5"
Based on a photograph from the personal archive of Allen Lebovitz.
Allen’s mother, Kate Lebovitz, was documented in a school photograph at age 11, Budapest, Hungary, 1937.
Hypomnema; Lili, 2019, Handmade paper, 38" x 27.5
Based on a photograph from the personal archive of Leah Elisha.
Leah’s mother, Lili Grunwald, was photographed at age 20 in Hungary, 1944.
Front, from left:
Outside Time, installation detail: A view across the street, 2019
Based on photographs from the personal archive of David Ullmann. David’s Great grandmother, Perla, was photographed with his Aunt, Martha in 1920. Martha and her brother Teodor were later photographed walking down a street with unidentified friends, ca. 1930.
Back, from left:
Hypomnema; Shoshana (Rossa) 28" x 20.5"
Hypomnema; Kate 71" x 33.5"
Hypomnema; Lili 38" x 27.5
Front, from left:
Outside Time, installation detail: The smell of Honey Cake, 2019
The lithophanes in view are based on a photograph of Shoshana (Rossa) Zif from the personal archive of Bella Tzidkiyahu and a photograph of Shoshana, Lili and Rene Grunwald from the personal archive of Leah Elisha.
Back, from left:
Hypomnema; Regina 34.5" x 22"
Hypomnema; Aennie 70" x 45"
From left:
Hypomnema; Regina, 2019, Handmade paper, 34.5" x 22".
Based on the photograph of Regina Atabe, France. From the collection of displaced children, The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of the collection of the Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives.
Hypomnema; Aennie, 2019, Handmade paper, 70" x 45"
Based on a photograph of Aennie Hirsch Elkan. Possibly in Nürnberg or Heidelberg, Germany, ca. 1920s. From the personal archives of Jo Kamm and Marga Hirsch.
Exhibition preview directed and produced by Johanna Brooks.
Filmed on site at the Belger Art Center and Crane Yard Studios, Kansas City, MO. 2020