This Is Home Now: II

This has taken a while to process.

On Thursday 5/13, I attended the opening of This is Home Now, a photography/oral history exhibit at the Lexington History Museum. It was amazing.

Between three and four hundred people were there from Lexington and surrounding communities. Several of the survivors featured in the show were present and mingling in the crowd. During the “survivor reflection” people spilled into the halls outside the room to hear each survivor speak.

Visually the exhibit was stunning. In lieu of a lengthy description I have posted a few photos of opening night below.

My personal response to the show was at first scattered. I am too much a people watcher and was distracted by all of the different responses to the work on the walls. Upon some reflection I can say I was struck by the individual presence of each of the survivors. I tend to have a general idea of what a Holocaust Survivor would be. This exhibit showed that to generalize is to sell them short. Each of them has had their own lives and gone on after the Holocaust in there own fashion. They have made their lives their own and that seems to be a thread that connects them to one another. It also makes them extraordinary. For me the exhibit allowed me to overcome the generalization and see people and the ability of humans to overcome.