Online. Tracing Memory: Being a Refugee Now and 80 Years Ago

On the 20th of December, at 6.30 PM artist Samuel Bak, writer Dr Laima Vincė and chief curator of the Samuel Bak Museum: the Learning Center (University of Nebraska, Omaha) Alexandra Cardon will meet at the virtual event "Tracing Memory: Being a Refugee Now and 80 Years Ago" and will share their insights on this particular topic.

 

The event will be moderated by Ieva Šadzevičienė, Head of the Samuel Bak Museum in Vilnius.

 

Litvak artist Samuel Bak (born in Vilnius, in 1933) is not only the Holocaust survivor, but also the one, who has experienced the life of a refugee, fleeing the Soviet Vilnius and settling in the Displaced Persons Camp in Landsberg, Germany. Therefore, his art speaks not only about the Holocaust, but also about the experiences of the people, who were forced to leave their homes and families and to re-settle or to find the temporary housing. For Samuel Bak the Holocaust and post-war trauma became the certain source of inspiration and his artworks - the educational tools for numerous refugees, currently experiencing the re-settlement from their homelands.

 

Dr. Laima Vincė Sruoginis is an author, academic, and life-long part of the North American Lithuanian Diaspora. She has published over twenty books in the United States, Europe, and the United Kingdom. She earned a PhD in Humanities from Vilnius University, an MFA in Writing from Columbia University, an MFA in Nonfiction from the University of New Hampshire, and a BA in English and German Literature from Rutgers University. She is the recipient of two Fulbright grants, a National Endowment for the Arts grant in Literature, a PEN Translation Fund grant, an Academy of American Poets Award in Poetry, an Association of the Advancement of Baltic Studies book subvention grant and dissertation grant, among other honors. She teaches in the English Department at the University of Southern Maine.

 

Alexandra M. Cardon is the Chief Curator of Samuel Bak Museum: The Learning Center. She envisions the future museum as a collaborative space that celebrates Samuel Bak’s oeuvre and educates viewers on the realities of the Holocaust, while also offering exhibitions that explore contemporary artistic responses to conflict, human rights, and genocide. Alexandra has worked in art museums and taught art history in universities and colleges. She began her museum career at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice after which she worked at the American and Canadian pavilions during 2003 Venice Biennale, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, and in the Modern and Contemporary art department at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. She moved to Omaha in 2012 and worked for the sculptor Jun Kaneko as his studio’s registrar and archivist. She has taught at the Memphis College of Art and Christian Brothers College in Memphis, TN. She is an adjunct professor in the Art and Art history department and the Honors College at the University of Nebraska Omaha. Her research focuses on mid twentieth century European painting, particularly the production of art in the interwar years and painting in France after World War Two. Alexandra is invested in Omaha’s non-profit community and currently served on the Amplify Arts board.

 

Ieva Šadzevičienė is the Head of the Samuel Bak Museum – the branch of the Vilna Gaon Museum of Jewish History. She had graduated from Vytautas Magnus University (Lithuania), obtaining Master in Arts degree, and started her career as an art curator back in 2002, working at the Two Lions Art Studio, based in St. Petersburg, Florida (USA). Back in 2007 Ieva Šadzevičienė joined the team of the Vilna Gaon Museum of Jewish History, as the Head of the Tolerance Center. She has curated more than 30 exhibitions, related to the Litvak art and history, as well as organized numerous events, dedicated to the topics of the human rights, teaching on the topics of Holocaust, lectures and seminars. Also published articles about art in the mass media sites as well as professional publications.
Ieva Šadzevičienė is deepening her knowledge in art and life of Samuel Bak from 2011. She was the one, who has participated in the establishment of the Samuel Bak Museum, in 2017. As well as curated Samuel Bak exhibitions at the Vilna Gaon Museum of Jewish History and abroad (UNESCO, Paris, France): “Samuel Bak. Stations in Life“ (2011, Vilnius), ‘‘To Stay Human ir Inhuman Conditions: Courage and Creativity in Vilnius and Warsaw Ghettos (the artworks of Rafael Chvoles and Samuel Bak)” (2013, Paris), ”The Art of Samuel Bak in Vilnius: a Retrospective 1942—2023“ (Vilnius) and wrote the texts for the interactive website of Samuel Bak art: www.menas.samuelisbakas.lt.