Local Holocaust survivors featured in Vulcan art exhibit

The stories of Birmingham Holocaust survivors now canvas the walls at Vulcan Park and Museum. 

Darkness Into Life: Alabama’s Holocaust Survivors Through Photography and Art is now open and will be showcased in the museum’s Linn-Henley Gallery through May 16, 2016.

In the gallery bold paintings by Mitzi J. Levin depict the survivors’ private memories from the Holocaust alongside photography by Becky Seitel that captures their lives today. 

“Not only does it show the hard times but also how they have moved into life going forward,” Vulcan Museum Specialist Lindsay Elliott said. “You can see how they live with the memories and what they have done with them.”

Next to the art, each set of paintings and photographs focusing on each of nine survivors is accompanied by educational narratives that tell the stories shared by the survivors. 

The Birmingham Holocaust Education Center, which commissioned the exhibit, documented oral histories of the survivors, and then curators pulled portions of that text to pair with the artwork. All of them live in Birmingham today.

“In keeping with our mission to share the history of Birmingham’s diverse community, this display portrays the triumphant stories of human survival and the impact these survivors had on our community upon re-entry into society,” said Vulcan President and CEO Darlene Negrotto.

At the entrance to the exhibit, a few pieces of art set the tone for the pieces inside. “Destination Alabama USA” combines bold, fiery orange and red imagery from the Holocaust with light blue and white calming water imagery to represent coming to the U.S. and to Alabama’s green hills and blue sky. To its right hangs a portrait of nine children facing a Star of David as well as a group photo of all the survivors in the exhibit taken recently.

Overall the exhibit, which has been showcased other places in Birmingham, fits with the vision of Vulcan.

“We wanted to do it because our mission is to bring the Birmingham community together and tell our history and story,” Vulcan Director of Marketing and PR Morgan Berney said. “I get chills just standing in here.”

In correlation with the exhibit, Vulcan Park and Museum will offer survivor talks and other events. On April 21, Vulcan will host a performance of Slippery Slope, a play that tells the story of Holocaust victims set to African-American spirituals and traditional Klezmer melodies of Eastern European Jews.

For more information, visit visitvulcan.com.