Deathgate

37 REMEMBER Though the synagogue no longer exists and the Jewish population in Toowoomba is now largely nonexistent it is still somehow fitting that Dan Elborne created “Deathgate” in Toowoomba, his hometown and that its first public showing also took place in this city. “Deathgate” weaves traumatic memory, history, and human experience with the acknowledgement of human compassion, resilience, survival and above all the need, and the demand, to remember. One person, one stone, one candle can make a difference because individually they are a presence in the face of a vast absence. Dan Elborne has turned a legacy of horror into an impressive and powerful memorial. His rivers of stones count the cost, salute the sacrifice, admonish the act, and they urge that we remain ever vigilant. They create a covenant of remembrance embodied in the words of Cicero: “The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living.” 17 Sandy Pottinger© November 2018 1. Rilke, R M Rilke, in Letters to a Young Poet, (Letter Six 23 December 1903), Mitchell, S., trans., 2001, Random House, New York, pp 52-53 2: Rubinstein, H. L., 1991, The Jews in Australia: a Thematic History, Vol, 1 : 1788-1945, Melbourne, p.145-6. 3: Barone, T., Eisner, E., 2012, Arts Based Research, Thousand Oaks, CA, USA: Sage, p 137. 4: Östman, Lars, 2018, The “Stolpersteine”, and the Commemoration of Life, Death, and Government, Peter Lang Publications, New York, p 23. 5: Kwon, M., Storr, R., (2006) Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Ault, J., ed. Steidl Dangin, Göttengen, Germany, p.137 6: Hamber, B, Naidu, E, Šev č enko, 2010, Utopian Dreams or Practical Possibilities? The Challenges of Evaluating the Impact of Memorialization in Societies in Transition, in the International Journal of Transitional Justice, Volume 4, Issue 3, November 2010, pp 397-420, New York 7: Andrieu, K., (2010) Civilizing peace building: Transitional justice, civil society, and the liberal paradigm in Security Dialogue 41 (5) pp 537- 558, Security Dialogue, Ed. Mark B. Salter, Sage Publications for the Peace Research Institute, Oslo. 8: Bickford, L., (2014) Memoryworks/Memory Works in Transitional Justice, Culture and Society: Beyond Outreach, Clara Ramirez- Barat, Ed., pp 491-528, International Centre for Transitional Justice Publishing, New York. 9: Bauman, Z (2008) Modernity and the Holocaust, Polity Press, Cambridge, Chapters 2 and 3 10: Ristic, M., “Silent vs. Rhetorical Memories: Sarajevo Roses and Commemorative Plaques” in Proceedings of the Society of Architectural Histories, Australia and New Zealand, 30 Open, Alexandra Brown, Andrew Leach, eds,Gold Coast, Queensland, SAHAN 2 2013, Vol1, pp111-122. 11: Giovannucci, K.E., Remembering the Victims: The Sarajevo Red Line Memorial and the Trauma Art Paradox, Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences 4, No 9 October 2013 12: Dorner, E., (1999) Daniel Libeskind. Jüdisches Museum Berlin . Berlin: Gebr.Mann, Berlin. 13: Libeskind, D., Jewish Museum Berlin, Architect Daniel Libeskind with a photo essay by Hélène Binet. Amsterdam and Dresden: G+B Arts International, 1999. 14: New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies 2009 15: Steinbeck, E., and Wallsten, R., eds., (1989) Steinbeck: A Life in Letters . Penguin, New York, p220 16: Ochert, Morris S. (1996) “Darling Downs Jewry and the Toowoomba Hebrew Congregation” 17: Cicero, M. T. (1903) The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Yonge, C.D., trans, George Bell & Sons, London. (Philippicae 9, 10) Deathgate artwork in progress. Photography: Hannah Roche 2017.