Bob Stepno's Other Journalism Weblog

Tuesday, August 1, 2006

Two Views of Holocaust in Tennessee

My colleague Rob Heller's portraits of Tennesseans who experienced the Holocaust are back in Knoxville, after being shown throughout the state under the auspices of the Tennessee Holocaust Commission.

The photographs will be on display at the East Tennessee History Center, across Gay Street from the Tennessee Theatre, until Oct. 22.

Titled "Living On: Portraits of Tennessee Survivors and Liberators," the exhibit will be accompanied by a series of lectures and discussions, including a panel discussion Sept. 7, a lecture by the photographer on Oct. 16 and the showing of an Emmy Award-winning documentary about the project on public television and at the museum on Oct. 22.

Will Pedigo, a former student of Heller's, produced the film, and Dawn Weiss Smith interviewed the people being photographed.

As the title suggests, the four-square-foot black-and-white portraits include both people who survived the Nazi death camps and Tennessee soldiers who played a role in liberating them. Small samples of the images are online along with UT's information page about the exhibit, but the pictures really should be seen in their full, larger-than-life, size.

Details about gallery hours, related events and the project itself are at the links above. The documentary's public television showings will be at 7 p.m. August 20 and at 2 p.m. August 27.
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