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Glazer Institute for Jewish Studies and Pepperdine Libraries Host Photography Exhibition “Traces of Memory”
The Diane and Guilford Glazer Institute for Jewish Studies at Pepperdine opened the compelling photography exhibit “Traces of Memory: A Contemporary Look at the Jewish Past in Poland” on Tuesday, Feb. 1, Payson Library on the Malibu campus. The exhibit will be on display until April 25 on the second floor of the Payson Library, and a series of lectures and presentations on topics associated with the “Traces of Memory” work will be presented throughout the exhibit’s display.
“Traces of Memory” features photographs by the late British photojournalist Chris Schwarz, as well as research and texts by professor Jonathan Webber, former UNESCO Chair of Jewish and Interfaith Studies at the University of Birmingham in England and professor at the Institute of European Studies at the Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland. Over a period of 12 years, they worked together to gather material that offers a completely new way of looking at the Jewish past that was destroyed in Poland. The exhibition pieces together a picture of the relics of Jewish life and culture in Polish Galicia that can still be seen today, interpreting these traces in a manner which is informative, accessible, and thought-provoking.
Tuesday, Feb. 1, at 4 p.m., Glazer Institute will host a public opening reception for the exhibit, featuring a lecture by author Louise Steinman. She is currently writing The Crooked Mirror: My Conversation with Poland, an examination of her family’s personal history through the Holocaust. Steinman is a writer and literary curator whose work frequently deals with memory, history and reconciliation. She has been the curator of the award-winning “ALOUD at Central Library” series for the Los Angeles Public Library for the past 17 years.
The first public lecture during the exhibit’s display will be a reading by noted poet Jerome Rothenberg on Feb. 10, at 4 pm, in the Payson Library’s James Irvine Reading Room. Against the backdrop of the “Traces” photographs, Rothenberg will read “Poland/1931,” a poem cycle that explores the emotional resonance of the Polish Jewish experience in his own life. Rothenberg is a PEN award-winning author, who for many years headed the Creative Writing Program at the University of California, San Diego.
On Sunday, Feb. 20, the Payson Library will host an afternoon of events in the Kresge Reading Room with exhibition co-creator Jonathan Webber. He will give a public lecture at 1 p.m. about “Traces of Memory.” A reception will follow before Webber and a panel of distinguished scholars discuss Jewish-Catholic reconciliation in Poland.
At 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb.23, and 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 24, in the Raitt Recital Hall, the Library will host a performance of Rachel Calof, a one-woman show with music based on the real-life story of a Jewish pioneer to America in 1894. The production stars Kate Fuglei, a veteran of leading roles at the New York Shakespeare Festival, Arena Stage, LaJolla Playhouse, and most recently the Broadway National Tour of Spring Awakening. The production’s book is written by Ken LaZebnik, with music and lyrics by Leslie Steinweiss, and is directed by Emmy-Award winning director Ellen S. Pressman. Tickets are $10 and are available at the Pepperdine Center For the Arts box office at 310-506-4522, or at the Center for the Arts website.
Other events in March and April will include:- Thursday, Mar. 10, 4 p.m., Kresge Reading Room: An Interfaith Dialogue, with Muslim, Christian, and Jewish representatives from Abraham Faiths Peacemaking Initiative.
- Thursday, Mar. 24, 6 p.m., Elkins Auditorium: A screening of the documentary film Budrus, in association with Center of Entertainment, Media, and Culture director Craig Detweiler’s film class. Budrus tells the story of a 15-year-old Palestinian girl who launches a non-violent women’s group in order to save her village.
- Thursday, Mar. 31, 4 p.m., Kresge Reading Room: An Interfaith dialogue examining women’s experiences as religious leaders. Participants will include Rabbi Judith HaLevy of MJCS and Najeeba Syeed-Miller of Claremont Theological Seminary.
- In April, the film Strangers No More will screen in Craig Detweiler’s film class.
- In April, professor Robert Melson of Purdue University and other scholars, including the filmmakers of the documentary The Last Summer, will lead a symposium on Genocide and Genocide Prevention.
