The 32nd Edition of the Book Festival of the MJCCA Presents
B.A. Van Sise, Invited to Life: Finding Hope after the Holocaust
In Conversation with Rabbi Brian Glusman, Outreach Director and Rabbi, MJCCA
PRESENTED BY CHERIE & GARY AVIV
Author Talk, Q & A & Book Signing
7:00 pm Kristallnacht Commemoration at the Besser Holocaust Memorial Garden with Torchlighting Ceremony
“No matter how it might seem,” writes B. A. Van Sise, “this is not a book about the Holocaust.” Rather, it is about a number of survivors who emerged from the deepest depths of the Shoah and accepted their invitation to life. In 90 handsome and sensitive portraits, all set against a black background, Van Sise, an award-winning photojournalist, captures the glow in his subjects’ faces. They are vibrant women and men whose ambition and gratitude take center stage in the interviews that accompany each photograph.
The 90 people Van Sise presents are engaged in almost every aspect of American life. Some are familiar names who have made notable careers, while others followed the trades of their European families as bakers or tailors. There are rabbis and nonbelievers, social workers and doctors, accountants and workers who fell into bad times; there are activists, teachers, and engineers. Several have turned to the arts, some professionally and others for pure pleasure. Almost all tell their story matter-of-factly, even as they recall their devastating beginnings, the distances they have traveled, and the lives they have remade. With brief contributions by Dr. Mayim Bialik, Neil Gaiman, and Sabrina Orah Mark, Invited to Life is a compelling and memorable portrait that testifies to the strength and endurance of the human spirit.
We will be featuring the work of Mr. Van Sise in the Katz Family Main Street Gallery. You’re invited to view this beautiful photography and the inspirational stories of the featured Holocaust Survivors.
The photo exhibit is generously underwritten by Cherie & Gary Aviv
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
B.A. Van Sise is an author and photographic artist focused on the intersection between language and the visual image. He has previously been featured in solo exhibitions at the Center for Creative Photography, the Center for Jewish History and the Museum of Jewish Heritage, as well as in group exhibitions at the Peabody Essex Museum, the Museum of Photographic Arts, the Los Angeles Center of Photography and the Whitney Museum of American Art; a number of his portraits of American poets are in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery.
Books will be available for purchase on the evening of the event from our partner bookseller, A Cappella Books!
+ More... - Less...5342 Tilly Mill Rd
Atlanta, GA 30338
$22.00 Community Ticket
