Angelika has been working on her a priori project for a couple of years now. Thus far, she's traveled to Germany, Canada and around here in the NY region to interview, film and photograph individuals who have stories of a Jewish heritage which they'd only discovered later in life. The potentially life altering revelation her subjects have faced stems from the extraordinary circumstances of families fighting to survive the ordeal of Nazi persecution before and during WWII. Although her subjects share this one common family secret, the telling of their stories reflect the range of responses of and impact on people after any fact of their identity which has been obscured for a large part of their life has been discovered, regardless of the nature of that fact or the reason for its concealment.
Angelika's project has grown into its own as an art work, starting as more of a straight forward documentary project, then evolving into a platform for her to reflect on and express her own impulses in response to interacting with her participants. And this evolution continues. Currently, the main physical components of the project are photographs of details of her participant's living spaces, subtitled with selected text from their interviews that appear as film stills. Angelika has also been transcribing her participants' words by hand, on sheets of vellum that are then installed on the wall as a billowing, fragile representation of each person's voiced history.
A priori will be on exhibit in Dresden, Germany this fall as part of a Jewish Music and Cultural festival. Angelika is conducting an Indiegogo campaign to raise funds for her to travel to the opening of her exhibit and to also cover costs of shipping the work back home.
Beyond the niceties of attending one's own opening, opportunities like this that offer Angelika the chance to engage with the public. Conversation is, after all, the basis of a priori. But more importantly, it's through these kinds of interactions that Angelika usually finds more participants interested in sharing their experiences, thereby enhancing the project.
The a priori Indiegogo campaign is approximately half way through its term, with about two weeks remaining. I invite you to check it out and lend your support, if you are so moved. You can click on the widget above to access the campaign. Below is the video that explains everything.
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