Last
Folio
Photographs by Yuri Dojc. Film by Katya Krausova.
Canadian première of a deeply moving memorial to
the Holocaust and lives interrupted.
Opens at the Art Gallery of Hamilton on October 22
Yuri Dojc Torah fragment, attic, Bardejov, 2006 Chromogenic Print. Courtesy of the artist.
The Art Gallery of Hamilton is very proud to present Last Folio, a multi-media exhibition of
photography and film that revisits the history of the Holocaust in Slovakia. The
exhibition opens October 22, 2016 and will remain on view until May 14, 2017.
Time had stood still since 1942 in Bardejov, Slovakia, until nearly 10
years ago when Canadian photographer Yuri Dojc returned to visit his family’s
former home. On the eve of World War II, many of the villagers had fled, and
those remaining were taken away to concentration camps.
Serendipity led Dojc, along with a documentary film team to the local
Jewish school, which had been locked since the day those attending were
deported to concentration camps. All the schoolbooks were still there;
including essay notebooks with corrections--even the sugar was still in the
cupboard. The decaying books, which were lying on dusty shelves, the last
witnesses of a once thriving culture, are treated by Dojc like the survivors
they are–each one captured as a portrait, preserved in their final beauty,
silent witnesses to the horrors of history.
Amongst the hundreds of books and fragments photographed one stands out
especially–one which miraculously found its way from a dusty pile to its
rightful heir–a book once owned by Dojc’s grandfather, Jakab Deutsch. This book
will be on display in the exhibition.
“Last Folio is a moving
photographic journey of memory and loss,” said Shelley Falconer, President and
CEO of the Art Gallery of Hamilton. “The AGH is deeply honoured to be the first
Canadian institution to exhibit together the complete series and film.”
The multi-media exhibition includes more than
30 photographs of objects and interiors, abandoned synagogues, portraits of
Holocaust survivors and a documentary film of Dojc’s artistic journey by
international film and television producer/director and writer, Katya Krausova,
who collaborated closely with Dojc throughout the project. A 20-minute edited
version of the film shot during his numerous trips to Slovakia is included in
the exhibition. Together with the survivor portraits they create a greater
context from which to view the photographs.
The documentary film, also entitled Last Folio, undertakes a personal journey into the past and
present of Slovakia’s Jewish community. Through interviews with Shoah survivors
who remained in Slovakia, as well as the story of Yuri’s parents who spent the
war in hiding, the film looks at both the help Slovakian Jews received and the
anti-Semitism they experienced. It is Dojc’s stunningly beautiful photographs
that let us experience the vibrant cultural history of Slovakian Jews through
the now abandoned schools, synagogues and mikvahs (ceremonial baths) he
lovingly captures with his camera.
“The images in Last Folio are a last memento of the culture and
people who used those books,” said Yuri Dojc. “Most of them are forgotten–they
don’t have relatives or graves. I tried to memorialize them. This is not a
documentary but my personal salute to a vanished culture and a vanished people.
These images absorb me totally. They represent more than what I saw that
first day.”
Throughout the run of the exhibition, the AGH
will be presenting a broad range of educational and related programming for
school children and adults, using Last
Folio as a means to deepen understanding of the Holocaust, genocide and the
memorializing power of art.
Last Folio Opening Programming
Thursday, October 20, 7:00 p.m.
Screening of Last Folio, the documentary film. AGH
BMO World Film Festival.
Yuri Dojc and Katya Krausova
in attendance.
Art
Gallery of Hamilton, 123 King Street West, Hamilton, ON amilton,
ON H
Sunday, October 23, 3:00 p.m.
Official
Opening of Last Folio exhibition.
Yuri Dojc and Katya Krausova in attendance. Art Gallery of Hamilton, 123 King
Street West, Hamilton, ON
Thursday, October 27, 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Artist Talk and Tour with
Yuri Dojc
Art Gallery of Hamilton, 123
King Street West, Hamilton, ON
For
more information about Last Folio
special programming visit
About
the Art Gallery of Hamilton
Founded
in 1914, the Art Gallery of Hamilton is the oldest and largest public art
gallery in southwestern Ontario. Its permanent collection, which is focused on
historical Canadian, 19th-century European and Contemporary art, now numbers
more than 10,000 works and is recognized as one of the finest in Canada. The
AGH is a vital creative hub and centre of lifelong learning that enables people
of all ages to enrich their lives by gaining a deeper understanding of art.
Visit www.artgalleryofhamilton.com for more information.
VISITOR
INFORMATION
Admission:
AGH Members: Free; Adults, $10; Students/Seniors, $8;
Children (6-17), $4; under 5 years, Free. Friday Free Night: Free admission
on the first Friday of the month.
Gallery Hours:
Tuesday & Wednesday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.; Thursday, 11
a.m.–8 p.m.; Friday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.; Saturday–Sunday, 12 noon–5 p.m.
The AGH will be closed on December 25, December 26,
2016 and January 1, 2017.
The Art Gallery of Hamilton is located at 123 King
Street West, downtown Hamilton, Ontario, L8P 4S8.
[T]
905.527.6610
[E] info@artgalleryofhamilton.com
GROUP TOURS
To
arrange for a Group Tour, please contact: Laurie Kilgour-Walsh, Educator
[T]
905.5276.6610, ext. 272
[E] grouptours@artgalleryofhamilton.com
For
more information, please contact:
Steve
Denyes, Manager, Communications
[T]
905.527.6610 x 255
[E] steve@artgalleryofhamilton.com
