Abstract
This project continues Helen Newall's investigation into commemoration.
Practice research questions included:
- how might we talk about the Holocaust with young children?
- how might we commemorate through art and community expression?
- how might we represent the victims of the Holocaust via art?
Artist's Statement exhibited with the work:
Designed by Professor Helen Newall; soundscape by Dr Karen Lauke; figures created by the year 6 children of Nutgrove Methodist Primary School, St Helens.
This installation commemorates the six million who perished in the Holocaust for being Jewish. People were also murdered because they were disabled, or Polish or Rumanian, or Gypsies, or because they were homosexual, considered to be different, or engaged in political dissent.
The figures in this work were made by the children and were inspired by the commemorative work of Yugoslav artist, Nandor Glid (1924 0 1997), who survived Auschwitz, and forced labour. After the war, he went on to become an artist, creating stark and beautiful memorial sculptures, one of which stands today n the yard at Dachau Camp Memorial Site. Th children and I looked at his work and talked about memory and remembrance, after which they worked very hard to create the beautiful clay figures collected together in this memorial.
The fragments of text on this memorial are taken from the prayer created in 2020 by Chief Rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis; the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby; and Senior Imam, Qari Asim, and which is intended for use by people of any faith in their Holocaust Memorial Day activities.
With thanks to Dr James Valentine Burrows (Arts in Libraries Officer) & Owen Hutchings (Senior Arts in Libraries Officer), St Helens Borough Council; the technicians at Edge Hill University; and the staff and children at Nutgrove Methodist Primary School.
Six Million was commissioned by Cultural Huibs, delivered by and through St Helens Borough Council Library Service - an Arts Council England NPO.
Practice research questions included:
- how might we talk about the Holocaust with young children?
- how might we commemorate through art and community expression?
- how might we represent the victims of the Holocaust via art?
Artist's Statement exhibited with the work:
Designed by Professor Helen Newall; soundscape by Dr Karen Lauke; figures created by the year 6 children of Nutgrove Methodist Primary School, St Helens.
This installation commemorates the six million who perished in the Holocaust for being Jewish. People were also murdered because they were disabled, or Polish or Rumanian, or Gypsies, or because they were homosexual, considered to be different, or engaged in political dissent.
The figures in this work were made by the children and were inspired by the commemorative work of Yugoslav artist, Nandor Glid (1924 0 1997), who survived Auschwitz, and forced labour. After the war, he went on to become an artist, creating stark and beautiful memorial sculptures, one of which stands today n the yard at Dachau Camp Memorial Site. Th children and I looked at his work and talked about memory and remembrance, after which they worked very hard to create the beautiful clay figures collected together in this memorial.
The fragments of text on this memorial are taken from the prayer created in 2020 by Chief Rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis; the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby; and Senior Imam, Qari Asim, and which is intended for use by people of any faith in their Holocaust Memorial Day activities.
With thanks to Dr James Valentine Burrows (Arts in Libraries Officer) & Owen Hutchings (Senior Arts in Libraries Officer), St Helens Borough Council; the technicians at Edge Hill University; and the staff and children at Nutgrove Methodist Primary School.
Six Million was commissioned by Cultural Huibs, delivered by and through St Helens Borough Council Library Service - an Arts Council England NPO.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Type | A collaborative art work commissioned by St Helens Borugh Council, and made with Nutgrove Primary Shcool for Holocaust Memorial Day in 2023. |
| Media of output | Installation |
| Publication status | Published - 27 Jan 2023 |
Keywords
- commemoration
- Holocaust
- Memorial
- art
- sculpture
- installation
- collaborative art
- practice research
- community
- primary school