As part of our “For the People” speakers series, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is proud to present a virtual program with Arielle Weininger and Jim Lommasson, the creators of “Stories of Survival: Object. Image. Memory,” our new exhibit in partnership with the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center.
Please join Arielle and Jim on Thursday, May 5 at 7pm via Facebook LIVE! and YouTube and learn how they collaborated to bring together more than 60 personal artifacts that were brought to America by Survivors of the Holocaust and genocides from around the world, including Armenia, Bosnia, Cambodia, Iraq, Rwanda, South Sudan, and Syria. After their formal presentation, you'll have an opportunity to ask questions during a short Q&A session.
You’ll learn about the relationship between objects, their meaning to the original owner and subsequent significance — all told dramatically and paired with oversized photographs and handwritten responses by Survivors or their family members.
To watch virtually via Facebook Live, please go to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum Facebook page. Open the page at the appointed time and scroll to the post highlighting the live event. Once you’re there, simply click on the image and watch the live video stream. The program will also be available on the ALPLM YouTube Channel.
The “For the People” speakers series features bold thinkers with unique insights into the people of yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
ARIELLE WEININGER is the Chief Curator of Collections and Exhibitions for the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center, where she leads the curatorial and custodial responsibilities for the museum’s collection of over 30,000 historical objects and artworks. Ms. Weininger also manages all aspects of exhibition planning and implementation for both the core, on-going, and special exhibitions. Ms. Weininger holds a M.A. in Near and Middle Eastern Studies from the University of London, and a B.A. in Art History and Photography from the University of Iowa. She is a highly regarded Museum professional with over 20 years of Museum experience.
JIM LOMMASSON is an award-winning photographer and author living in Portland, Oregon. He received the Dorothea Lange–Paul Taylor Prize from The Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University for his first book, Shadow Boxers: Sweat, Sacrifice and The Will To Survive In American Boxing Gyms. Lommasson’s 2015 book and traveling exhibition Exit Wounds: Soldiers’ Stories – Life After Iraq and Afghanistan is about U.S. veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, and their lives after their return from war.
Lommasson’s What We Carried: Fragments and Memories from the Cradle of Civilization is an ongoing collaborative storytelling project with displaced Iraqi and Syrian refugees who have fled to the U.S. What We Carried: Fragments and Memories from the Cradle of Civilization book was published for an exhibition at The Ellis Island Museum of Immigration in 2019.
Stories of Survival: Object. Image. Memory. was created in cooperation with The Illinois Holocaust Museum with genocide and Holocaust Survivors. Stories of Survival is currently traveling to museums in the U.S. Lommasson continues to work with Holocaust and genocide survivors.