A Chilling Reunion
By Greta Elbogen
Alexandra Neuman
Collage on canvas
8” x 13”
2019
About Alexandra Neuman
I am from Italy and the former Czechoslovakia. I am a multi-disciplinary artist currently based in San Diego, California.
Greta and I first met while I was participating in a performance at the Jewish Museum in NYC. I overheard her speaking about her poetry project and shortly afterwards became friends.
I am interested in contributing to the exhibition because Greta's poetry speaks to optimism in the face of suffering and human indecency, which are extremely relevant to the state of the world today, in the sense that it will not be helpful to be overcome by cynicism in the face of contemporary conflict. I think that the idea of pairing the poetry with artworks will provide for new ways of accessing the stories that she has told in her work, and provide new avenues for education on these topics.
I chose the poem A Chilling Reunion because of its sense of eternal suspension or emptiness, as Greta writes, "my arms are still open, waiting for that embrace." This idea of trauma that never finds the proper words to express itself or heal itself, leaving the person who suffered it in a space of detached anticipation. At the same time, it is this suffering that allows for a person to be compassionate towards others over time, and to find ways to engage with emptiness, such as healing others and becoming stronger in the world. In my collage, I am similarly depicting a state of eternal liminality, one that is both sorrowful and full of potential and space