Painting helps a man express horrors beyond words.
“This was. This is.” Brooklyn-based artist and Shoah survivor, Fred Terna, declares gesturing towards two paintings—one ominous and dark, the other lighter, with hues of hope. “This is how the memory changed.” Shared Memory is part oral history, part private gallery tour where Terna invites the viewer into his home and discusses pieces from his carefully catalogued collection spanning the history of his artwork. Together, the paintings and Terna’s stories describe his path from the Czech Republic to Brooklyn, from surviving Theresienstadt to his taxing marriage with a fellow survivor. In Shared Memory, Terna reveals how painting is both a way of coping with the horrors he has experienced and a means to preserve his memories.
The following letter was written to Shared Memory Director and The Ripple Project Cofounder, Liron Unreich, by Fred Terna.
Dear Liron, I'm awed and delighted with the film. You and your team have done a superb job, telling the story of my paintings. Other film-makers have tried to make films about art and artists during the Shoah. When they focused on me they somehow stayed on the surface, there was a distance, a gap, between my feelings and ideas and what I saw on the screen. You are telling the story with great skill and insight, and I thank you.
During the Shoah we promised each other that the one who survives will tell about it. The burden is getting heavier as our numbers decrease, and you and your group are carrying this obligation with us, and for us.
Please give my thanks to all who are working with you on The Ripple Project. Looking forward to hearing from you before long,
Fred
