Arts Lab 7.0: Monica Lourenco | Month III

This month was a mixture of feelings. It was all focused on the JEMOM – Jewish Memorial Open-Air Museum. We started by focusing on our own personal artwork for one week and later on the residencies related to the topic. I also did a SuperTalk with the basics of crochet, with the goal of them making crochet worms (November 18th). On the same day, we had a general disinfestation; panic set in the house! I cut Loay’s hair on the balcony, and it turned out ok. For the first time (and only time until now), I saw snow during the night and ice on the cars in the morning of November 19th. While experimenting for the personal artwork, I did different kinds of rings. Hedvika was bitten by a dog, and we went to the hospital in Iași to keep her company (December 1st). We sorted out our Secret Santa. We met again with the university students to share our experience about the residency (December 8th). We also had some unfortunate problems in the house that ended unexpectedly and fast. It was a dark month that followed the topic of this museum.

JEMOM Personal Artwork (November 17th – 24th)

For the personal artwork, I was inspired by the death train that stopped at Târgu Frumos on July 1st, 1941. These trains were sold as a way to escape the genocide of Jews, but they were meant to kill the people inside during the journey. The train took more than three days to reach Târgu Frumos from Iași, a ride that usually takes one hour. When it stopped, more than 650 people were dead and were discarded onto the streets. The military started to pile up the dead people. We can see this from the photographic records in the Pogrom archives. After this, Roma people were also forced to help take the bodies to a mass grave, which is now the memorial monument next to the Jewish cemetery. In exchange, Roma people could keep the valuables of the victims for themselves. They were also persecuted during this event. The official number is 654 victims, but the number is probably even higher.

In their memory, I made a choker with 654 loop rings using a chainmail technique. The necklace itself gives a sensation of suffocation, resembling what was happening inside the wagons. These were very small wagons, meant to transport animals like one or two horses. Instead, more than 130 people were inside. Calculating the number of people per square meter, we reached 6.5. Some previous volunteers concluded that there were 10 people per square meter. Adding to this, it was hot outside because it was the middle of summer, and inside the wagons there were piles of manure and lime, which in combination create more heat and ammonia gas, causing respiratory problems. For the victims not counted in the official records, I added seeds to some loop rings that I collected at the train station.

This scenario also made me think about the people who lost their loved ones and didn’t have a body to mourn. They didn’t know their whereabouts or where they ended up. I created three pieces of mourning jewelry: two rings and a brooch. I used metallic iron and tin from cans as a base for the jewelry. To incorporate into the pieces, I collected a rock, a metallic plate, and spikes from the train station. A piece of fabric found in the studio was also used to create the brooch, resembling part of a loved one’s clothes.

JEMOM Residency (November 25th – December 3rd), Ion Creangă School, Târgu Frumos

The following week, I worked with Mohamed at Ion Creangă School. We had a very cool class of 8th-grade students who spoke very good English. We started by presenting ourselves and playing games — their favorite was “Castle, Princess, Dragon.” We planned activities day by day, related to emotions and the Holocaust. We showed them the documentary Black Sunday on YouTube, the JEMOM website with the future goals of the project (which they enjoyed), and a map of current genocides.

They made beautiful drawings related to the emotion of confusion felt by the people getting inside the death trains. They made pendants out of clay to protect them from “bad” emotions, used flour dough to release anger, solved a math problem to calculate the number of people inside one square meter of the death train using testimony from the documentary (later we made a practical exercise by marking a square meter on the floor with tape and asking for volunteers to stand inside). They collected stones, painted them, and hung them with yarn, and they made zines as letters for the victims. They did a very good job and seemed to enjoy it for the most part.

We could have taken more advantage of their very good English skills. Because of the heaviness of the topic and a lack of motivation, we didn’t plan the residency very well. I think if we had planned it like Eva and I did in the previous residency, they could have done a lot more. We live and learn, and for sure the Roma residency with Salma will be better prepared.

JEMOM Exhibition (December 9th), the Open HeART HUB

The JEMOM exhibition went really well. A lot of people came, and the environment was nice. It was also the time to finally see the performance that some of the volunteers had been doing and managed to keep secret. It was amazing; I felt really proud of them and their amazing teamwork.

Visitors were very interested in the residency artworks; they looked very strong hanging on the black fabric. Mohamed and I explained the process to them. Regarding the personal artwork, I exhibited the pieces inside a woven bag resembling the trip taken by the victims on the death trains. I put soil on top of the table along with some stones I collected at the train station. I also exhibited some pictures taken by me (present) and others from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum archive (past). For the interactive part, I made a notebook with leather and paper sheets for visitors to write advice for future generations or a personal story so it does not repeat itself. For younger visitors, I included pressed leaves to write words of hope for the victims. In general, it was a good time spent there and impactful for the public. We even received roses from Alex, Annalisa’s new friend.

Day Trip to Suceava (December 13th)

We did a trip to Suceava to get to know the city and meet Alex. She came to visit our exhibition, and we got along very well. We visited the Museum of Natural Sciences, full of dioramas and didactic information. It made me miss my time at the National Museum of Natural History and Science of Lisbon. We also visited the National Museum of Bucovina, a renovated museum that follows the history of the region from the earliest traces of human presence. It is very well accomplished. It talks about ceramics and their production, coins, archaeological findings like swords and medieval vests, important historical books, costumes, political evolution, and communism. From a conservator’s perspective, it is very well curated.

At lunch, the group split up. Mohamed, Hedvika, and I went to have a picnic at a public table, and then we went to the forest in the city next to the castle. We did grounding on top of a cut tree, and we also made little boats out of bark and sticks and sent them down the stream. It was a peaceful afternoon; I really needed time like this in nature again. It’s funny: although we live in Târgu Frumos, a city surrounded by hills, I don’t spend as much time in nature as I wish. It doesn’t call to me like it does in Portugal.

The Beginning of MARr (December 11th)

Right after the exhibition, we started the Museum Alternative of Rroma (MARr), focused on the traditions and history of the Roma community. We visited the new room at Ion Creangă School where we are going to exhibit the artworks for this museum. While there, we talked about Rroma history and discussed ideas to curate this room and the corridor. A lot of good ideas came up. Later, at the house, we watched documentaries and videos of artworks made by previous volunteers, and we did activities and games to get more involved in the topic. I felt very happy and excited about it; a lot of discussions were raised. I can’t wait to start to work on this!

This monthly report was written by Monica Lourenco, our Portuguese volunteer taking part in a seven-month Arts Lab 7.0 mobility, co-funded by the European Union under the European Solidarity Corps.