My grandparents’ stories of hiding and survival in the forest during the Holocaust are crowded with suspicious characters as well as saviors and protectors. These characters took on the forms of trees and woodsheds, rifles and swamps. The site of the forest carries a charged and multi-layered history; it called on both of my grandparents and many other survivors to perform dangerous feats, while also sheltering them from terror and death. “Don’t Let Me Go (Let Me Stay Here)†is a personal exploration into the worlds that I imagine they may have inhabited. Using the forest as a character within the narrative of each image, I attempt to create fragmented scenes that depict strength and vulnerability, hiding and confrontation. Just as the process of remembering and speaking about trauma can at times be disorderly, the images in the series are not meant to fit into a clear or linear description. I constructed these scenes from the position of someone who is both inside and outside of this traumatized history, inserting myself into the landscape of my grandparents’ memories, while remaining cognizant of the fact that this insertion is a performative act. Although the feelings involved in the act of constructing and performing this history are intimate and embodied, they remain tied to a reality that is worlds away and impossible to truly know.
