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Alice Lok Cahana

Nov 22, 2024

IMMORTALITY, MEMORY, CREATIVITY, AND SURVIVAL
The Arts of Alice Lok Cahana, Ronnie Cahana and Kitra Cahana
Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education, Portland, Oregon

2024-11-22T15:10:27-05:00November 22nd, 2024||Comments Off on IMMORTALITY, MEMORY, CREATIVITY, AND SURVIVAL
The Arts of Alice Lok Cahana, Ronnie Cahana and Kitra Cahana
Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education, Portland, Oregon

The exhibition explores the work of three artists representing three generations of one family–Holocaust survivor Allice Lok Cahana (1929 – 2017), her oldest son, Ronnie Cahana (born 1953), a survivor of a major stroke, and his daughter, Kitra Cahana (born 1987), a filmmaker and photographer. Alice Lok Cahana grew up in Sarvar, Hungary. She survived four different camps in the last year of the war, losing every member of her extended family, except for her father and including her beloved older sister, Edith—who survived, only to perish from illness immediately after liberation. Alice swore an oath to herself while in the camps that, if she survived, she would become an artist; her oldest son Ronnie, intensely responsive to his [...]

May 25, 2021

Alice Lok Cahana –
Beyond ‘The Last Days’:
Familial Continuity, Creativity, and Immortality
With Michael Berenbaum, Michael Z Cahana, Ken Lipper, Ori Z Soltes

2022-02-18T05:43:45-05:00May 25th, 2021|, , |Comments Off on Alice Lok Cahana –
Beyond ‘The Last Days’:
Familial Continuity, Creativity, and Immortality
With Michael Berenbaum, Michael Z Cahana, Ken Lipper, Ori Z Soltes

Join us for a discussion about the Hungarian born Holocaust survivor Alice Lok Cahana, whose life and art are recently recognized in two very different ways: The just remastered, Academy Award®-winning documentary, The Last Days, presented by Steven Spielberg and USC Shoah Foundation and the book Immortality, Memory, Creativity, and Survival: The Arts of Alice Lok Cahana, Ronnie Cahana, and Kitra Cahana, recently published by the Fritz Ascher Society of Persecuted, Ostracized and Banned Art, which investigates three generations of the Cahana family and their art in the context of biological and psychological research, allowing a deep understanding of how trauma and especially the Holocaust experience is remembered. This event investigates the portrayal of Alice Lok Cahana, her life and art, in art book [...]

Mar 30, 2021

Worlds Apart:
Antithetical Jewish Experiences
in the Twentieth Century
A book discussion with Dr. Ori Z Soltes, Washington D.C.

2022-02-18T06:23:24-05:00March 30th, 2021|, |Comments Off on Worlds Apart:
Antithetical Jewish Experiences
in the Twentieth Century
A book discussion with Dr. Ori Z Soltes, Washington D.C.

Conversation with  Dr. Meital Orr and Dr. Ori Z. Soltes Opening remarks Rachel Stern, Fritz Ascher Society forPersecuted, Ostracized and Banned Art Anke Yael Popper, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany Organized by the Center for Jewish Civilization at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. This program delves into the following books by Ori Z Soltes: Immortality, Memory, Creativity, and Survival: The Arts of Alice Lok Cahana, Ronnie Cahana, and Kitra Cahana This book reviews the story of a 14-year-old girl from Sarvar, Hungary who was deported to Auschwitz by the Nazis, together with her family. She was the sole survivor of the deportation and transit through three different camps, ended up marrying a rabbi, moving to Houston, Texas, [...]

Jan 11, 2021

Between Art and Record Keeping –
Artistic Representations of the Holocaust
Ori Z Soltes, Washington DC

2022-02-18T07:19:09-05:00January 11th, 2021|, , |Comments Off on Between Art and Record Keeping –
Artistic Representations of the Holocaust
Ori Z Soltes, Washington DC

WATCH THE RECORDING OF THIS EVENT HERE. Visual art during and after the Holocaust, by victims and survivors eloquently contradicts the famous comment by Theodor Adorno that "after the Holocaust to make art is barbaric." On the contrary, it was and is necessary: as part of the record of events as they were transpiring, and as part of the human response to horror--to express anger, to raise questions, to offer healing--in the time after those events. Who creates the art and what kind of art is created? What role does it play in wrestling with the question of what God is and what we humans are? These issues have implications both from within the heart of the Holocaust and from well beyond its particular boundaries. [...]

Jan 1, 2021

FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY New Year Newsletter

2021-02-24T05:44:07-05:00January 1st, 2021|Newsletter|Comments Off on FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY New Year Newsletter

Dear Friends, Thank You For Your Support! When our exhibitions were prematurely closed, we created virtual spaces to get together for lectures and discussions, digital projects and conferences. Thanks to your support, our community grew globally.  But this past year has been financially hard for us. If you can, please consider a tax deductible DONATION (https://fritzaschersociety.org/donate/) to the Fritz Ascher Society. The mailing of our new book publication has started. If you are interested in details about ordering a copy, please email fritzaschersociety@gmail.com. (Sorry, US and Canada only) We are very excited about this interdisciplinary volume, which explores the painting of Alice Lok Cahana, a survivor of three [...]

Dec 16, 2020

FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter Year End 2020

2020-12-16T12:52:26-05:00December 16th, 2020|Newsletter|Comments Off on FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter Year End 2020

Dear Friends, I HAVE to let you know before 2020 ends: The book is out! We are very excited about this interdisciplinary volume, which explores the painting of Alice Lok Cahana, a survivor of three Holocaust concentration camps; the poetry of her son, Ronnie Cahana; and the photography and award-winning filmmaking of her granddaughter, Kitra Cahana. It places that layered narrative within the context of art, the biology of memory, and the physiological and psychological question of how both creativity and intense trauma can be transmitted from one generation to the next. The book is generously sponsored by the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany in New [...]

Nov 23, 2020

FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter December 2020

2020-12-01T06:51:39-05:00November 23rd, 2020|Newsletter|Comments Off on FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter December 2020

Dear Friends, With Thanksgiving upon us, we announce our last events for 2020:  Kitra Cahana, The Cult of Maria Lionza: Fire, 2009. ©Kitra Cahana "A subject passes through me," explains Kitra Cahana. Here, a man who has taken on an Indian spirit and therefore has the power to touch fire, jumps through a fire pit without even flinching on October 12, 2009 during the Baile en Candela - "The Fire Dance" at the entrance to Sorte mountain in Venezuela. On the eve of the 12th of October every year The Fire Dance takes place on the mountain, wherein Maria Lionza practitioners will dress up as Indians take on [...]

Nov 1, 2020

FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter November 2020

2020-11-23T23:33:37-05:00November 1st, 2020|Newsletter|Comments Off on FRITZ ASCHER SOCIETY Newsletter November 2020

Dear Friends, First of all, IF YOU ARE AN US CITIZEN, PLEASE VOTE! John Heartfield, Krieg und Leichen – Die letzte Hoffnung der Reichen, Montagefotografie für die Arbeiter-Illustrierten-Zeitung, 1932, Nr. 18, Silbergelatineabzug, kaschiert Akademie der Künste, Berlin,  Inv.Nr. JH 1955 © The Heartfield Community of Heirs / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020 This will be an extremely busy month at FAS, starting on November 4, 2020 at 12:00pm ET with Rosa von der Schulenburg’s lecture “About John Heartfield’s Political Engagement and Private Life in London”, which is part of our monthly zoom series “Fight or Flight. stories of artists under repression,” generously funded by Allianz Partners. (SEE EVENT HERE) John [...]

Oct 28, 2020

Legacy And Creativity:
The Filmmaking and Photography of Kitra Cahana
In Conversation with Ori Z Soltes

2020-11-25T16:10:20-05:00October 28th, 2020|, , |Comments Off on Legacy And Creativity:
The Filmmaking and Photography of Kitra Cahana
In Conversation with Ori Z Soltes

WATCH THE RECORDING OF THIS EVENT HERE. Conversation featuring Kitra Cahana, Documentary Photographer, Videographer and Photo/Video Artist and Ori Z Soltes, Teaching Professor at Georgetown University in Washington DC Introduced by Rachel Stern, Executive Director of The Fritz Ascher Society in New York NY Kitra Cahana's award winning work ranges from photographic studies of American Teens for National Geographic Magazine to documentaries on the annual life-saving dance competition in a small town in northern Canada. She is renowned for work that consistently reflects a deep sense of empathy with her subjects. Her grandmother was a teen-aged Holocaust survivor who became an intense and powerful painter. Her father, a rabbi and a poet, was severely disabled by a stroke at the [...]

Oct 27, 2020

Immortality, Memory, Creativity, and Survival:
The Arts of Alice Lok Cahana,
Ronnie Cahana, and Kitra Cahana
Lecture by Ori Z Soltes, Washington DC

2020-11-18T14:34:57-05:00October 27th, 2020|, , |Comments Off on Immortality, Memory, Creativity, and Survival:
The Arts of Alice Lok Cahana,
Ronnie Cahana, and Kitra Cahana
Lecture by Ori Z Soltes, Washington DC

WATCH THE RECORDING OF THIS EVENT HERE. Lecture featuring Ori Z Soltes, Teaching Professor at Georgetown University in Washington DC Moderated by Rachel Stern, Executive Director of the Fritz Ascher Society in New York This lecture explores several interlocking themes. The work of three artists, each in a different medium—Alice was primarily a painter, Ronnie is a poet, and Kitra is a well-recognized photographer and filmmaker—will be presented and explored with regard to both aesthetic and conceptual intentions and outcomes. Since these three artists represent three generations from within one family, the question of how that familial relationship does or does not impinge on the artistic output will be explored. Inevitably, the fact that the first of the three was a [...]

Oct 18, 2020

“Trauma, Memory and Art”
An interdisciplinary virtual conference
with Ori Z. Soltes, Larry R. Squire,
Natan P.F. Kellermann and Eva Fogelman

2020-11-12T11:42:45-05:00October 18th, 2020|, , |Comments Off on “Trauma, Memory and Art”
An interdisciplinary virtual conference
with Ori Z. Soltes, Larry R. Squire,
Natan P.F. Kellermann and Eva Fogelman

WATCH THE RECORDING OF THIS EVENT HERE. In this interdisciplinary conference, four experts discuss the transmission of Holocaust trauma and memory against the backdrop of art. The starting point of the discussion is the art of Holocaust survivor Alice Lok Cahana and how artistic sensibilities, traumatic memory—and a sense of obligation to improve the world—have been expressed through three generations of her family—both in who her children and grandchildren are and in how they express themselves artistically. The discussion will amplify this layered issue from other angles: what have recent biological and psychological investigations offered, regarding what memory is and how it works, if and how trauma can be carried in the DNA—and the implications of all of this for [...]