“As the Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel warned years ago, to forget a holocaust is to kill twice.”
(Iris Chang, 1991)
The theme of my degree show is inspired by the Nanjing Massacre, but more than just the holocaust of a race, a country. The key is to bring hidden or forgotten facts back to popular memory against ‘history’. Moreover, it is a warning to remind visitors of the evil side of humanity and value the temporary peace in life.
What does it mean when reflecting on such a horrible holocaust throughout human history? As Friedrich Hegel said in Vorlesungen über die Philosophie der Geschichte (Lectures on the Philosophy of History)：
“The only thing we can learn from history is that we learn nothing from history.” (Hegel, 1837)
History refers to the victors’ writing only, at least it does not represent the whole picture of reality. Therefore, it is the meaning of the show to tell the facts, not their meaning.
Ana-Maria Mihai | Fine Art
