Lara Bongard

‘The Girl Who Crossed the River with a Tablecloth’ (2020)

The project consists of three parts - two books, vol. I + II and a performative audio-piece.

“Can anyone ever truly return to the land of one’s memory? Or is remembering the only form that such a return can be actualized?”
(Um, 2012: 845)
 
The word ‘history’ is absent in the Hebrew language, instead, the word ‘Zikaron’ זִכָּרוֹן is used, which means 'memory'. As rabbi Mendel Kalmenson beautifully articulates: “Without me, there is no memory. Memory is a part of me, and history, apart from me.” 
In the winter of 2019, I received the 100-year old embroidered Sabbath Tablecloth, the only surviving memorabilia from the erased world of my ancestors, which marked the beginning of my in-depth research into the scattered history of my family. The project started with a longing to find a deeper understanding of my past and explore a heritage that was covered in dust. I merged myself through the layers of time, crossing one world to another, simultaneously. Trying to find colour in what seemed like complete absence - through slowly uncovering, unfolding, dusting, excavating, re-collecting and assembling the fragments of a lost home.
 This project is a homage to my ancestors, as well as a search for identity and cultural heritage. The project has taken me to Israel to retrace scattered family members and to Ukraine to visit the lost villages of my ancestors. This project aims to challenge our relationship to the past and to acknowledge the multiplicity of stories in ourselves. All these stories make up who we are.