Faces, a lot of faces. Human faces, those of men and women, children and older people, refined people and peasants. Some of them are prominent, others unknown. They fill the page, indeed, they appear to want to go beyond the limits of each 42×29,7cm sheet of paper. Each looks directly at the viewer, as if regarding viewers without wavering. Indeed, they seem to be trying to meet someone's eyes, demanding eye contact. They emphatically insist on their right to be seen.
Olga Stozhar drew these portraits. She did not use precious materials; the drawings were realised using a ballpoint pen on standard office paper. An urgency is evident in the way the works were made. The tip of the artist's pen impacts on the paper's surface, moving quickly, making lines in black, blue or even, on occasion, red lines across each sheet of paper. Sometimes, the energy generated by the pressure and tempo of her drawing is so immense that the paper tears or wrinkles. When one looks closely, it becomes evident that the method used to draw these works sometimes alters the format itself since the paper has been stretched, making it no longer conform to industrial norms of being at precise 90° angles.
The way that Olga Stozhar works with paper and ink brings these materials to life. It is also evident that violence plays a role and that grave matters are the subject of the work.
The sheer quantity of faces that she's drawn imbues the project with an intense atmosphere that has a long term impact on the viewer. The demand that each face appears to make is loud and clear: look at us! Return our gaze! We can you see you. Details like their hairstyles, make-up, headgear and clothing pay testament to the fact that those depicted lived in the 1930s and 40s, making them very much 20th century beings identifiable as being from specific places. These pictures portray victims of Nazi terror. Each of the countenances belonged to a human being who the Nazis held captive in ghettos or concentration camps. Pogroms, police and military raids robbed them of their basic rights, debased and finally murdered them. The artist brought photographs that she found in books and archives to life. The result is an unsettling, emotional installation that pays tribute to people whose lives were cut short, reminding the living of each of their existences.
Olga Stozhar is not concerned with teaching people about history or merely expressing consternation. Her project is a manifestation of concern for the present. Together with the author and survivor of the Holocaust, Elie Wiesel, she shares the conviction that it is only by keeping the memory of the past alive that a promising future can come to the fore. Indifference leads to social marginalisation, making persecution possible. Inhumanity, hate and a lack of empathy result from ignorance and apathy. For that reason, she does not offer instructions for action or suggest what people should do. Her work strives to establish contact, facilitate empathy and generate emotions so that one can recognise oneself in the eyes, the gaze. They are looking directly at us. They are people with aspirations and fears, with animosities and sympathies, people brimming with love.
PROF. DR. FRIEDRICH WELTZIEN
