Material Witness: a mixed-media traveling exhibition
A dialogue between past and present using printmaking and poetry.
Exploring the experience of my mother as a Holocaust survivor in occupied France and the parallels immigrants are living through today.
Material Witness is available for display with a talk by Nancy Marks. Please reach out if interested.
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Poem example from show.
Reflection/Confession
by Nancy Marks
Forgive me if I forget
that it’s 2025
and not 1942.
Forgive me if I forget that it’s Massachusetts
and not occupied France,
the place where my mother
hid in darkness.
The boots, then, were worn by Nazis.
Today, they are worn by ICE.
The people in hiding, then, were Jews.
Now they are Brazilians, Haitians, and Dominicans,
stilled into silence by the pounding on their doors.
Later, when I get into bed,
I will put on glasses and open my book.
In time, I will lean over
and turn off the light.
Questions still loom:
ones which chased me as a child,
and keep me writing poems as an adult.
What would I have done then?
What will I do now?
In the morning
I hope I will like the person
I see in the mirror.
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Below is a sampling of images from the show.
