The Flame - A Sculpture to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day 2020 Construction October 2019

The Flame

I was honoured to be asked to be a part of the making of a commemorative flame to be displayed at Holocaust memorial commemoration in January 2020, alongside members of the Neve Shalom Synagogue in Leicester. The description below is a very short, mainly visual outline of the work that led to the final work. I was supported by members of the congregation and my more detailed final project description has been handed over to the Synagogue to be displayed alongside the sculpture. 

Below is the call from the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust:

Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) 2020 will mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. In commemoration of this landmark anniversary, we are running an exciting project for organisations and community groups all over the UK to take part in.

From art groups to faith groups and charities to schools, groups of all kinds are coming together across the country to make their own Memorial Flames. Each one will commemorate 75 years since the end of the Holocaust, the genocide perpetrated by the Nazis against the Jews in Europe.We will select 75 of the Memorial Flame artworks to form a national exhibition that will be launched at the UK Ceremony for HMD 2020. 

Inspiration

I am a printer and a painter and I am surrounded by objects which are used in printing. I am primarily a screen-printer when I use printing in my artwork. The spark of the idea came from a number of old squeegees. These are the tools used to screenprint with, squeezing the ink through a stencil stuck upon a fine mesh ‘screen’ or frame, to replicate an image. The older ones had two protrusions which reminded me of Torah Scrolls.

I was further inspired by the beautiful Thiki, or Tik, Torah case from Ioannina in Greece.  This led me to screen print an image of a tree of life adapted from old textile prints from the middle east, with some modifications. This image is particularly important in my work, as it appears in many cultures around the world and as such, it can be used in many contexts. It is an image of Hope and rebirth, in the midst of the catastrophe of the Holocaust.

Cutting and polishing the perspex panels.  There were specific size restrictions to enable the transport and display of all the selected frames, therefore care had to be taken with the weight in particular which could not exceed 5 kilograms.

Fitting the fixings and supports that hold the perspex panel to the supports and the base.

The rubber components have been removed leaving a gap in each squeegee which will accept the panel.  I used four industrial bolts.  Their significance and the mechanical nature of these ‘binds’ are open for interpretation, but in my mind they allude to the industrial scale of the murderous destruction of the Jewish communities. Four holes were left open, resembling holes made by the firing of a weapon. 

Trying the fittings and assembly.

Screenprinting the pattern of the Tree of Life on the side supports.  The Torah is also known as the Tree of Life, so it seemed that there was a synergy between what is a timeless Middle Eastern pattern, which also echoed the decoration on the surface of the beautiful Thiki, or Tik, Torah case from Ioannina in Greece.

Despite the beauty of the simple absent flame and white ‘Torah’ surface, I felt that the piece needed more detail. On the back, a more detailed version of the tree of life was printed using a screen and acrylic paint for greater adhesion. On the front of the piece a different version of the Tree of Life, more simplified and more resembling text, or at least a simile of text. Here this is shown lying flat with the side supports, awaiting assembly. 

The back of the first fully printed sculpture, with a prayer and the pattern printed over it on the base.

In the first planning meeting, it was suggested that photographs of relatives could be part of the sculpture and a young member cleverly suggested using mirrors. Below shows the process of printing on a circular mirror and inserting it in the flame gap.  It was a wonderful idea, which however was difficult to realise without obscuring the flame.  As I could not marry the two ideas, the flame and the sense of absence implied by the gap of the flame outline, it was decided to keep the idea of the mirror, perhaps for a future project.  The very moving photographs which were contributed by three members of the community would be displayed in the project description and in the Synagogue. 

Below is the final sculpture, which we were honoured to have accepted as part of the touring exhibition by the Holocaust Memorial Trust.  The exhibition of 75 selected flames will tour the UK in January 2020