Lara Bongard The Girl Who Crossed the River with a Tablecloth

Lara Bongard inherited a 100 year old Shabbat tablecloth the only surviving heirloom from the vanished world of her ancestors with which her greatgrandfather Mordko Bongard crossed the river of his shtetl in 1911 and never returned He left his family and community to escape the pogroms that swept the regions Lara embarked on an extensive research into the scattered history of her family in the previous Russian Empire presentday Ukraine She retraced family members collected testimonies photographs letters and archival material researched Yiddish tales symbols and mythologies &nbsp in order to reconstruct her own image of the past The tablecloth grew into a symbol of life sharing food with family across time connecting East with West the generations and diversity of cultures we as a family represent Gradually dislocation became a portable home

The Girl Who Crossed the River with a Tablecloth is a multidimensional work and dynamic space of memory in which fictional stories about the lives of her ancestors are written in conjunction with the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar travel stories and memories photographs and illustrations The project contributes to generating new connecting narratives about the fluid meaning of being at home in our contemporary world and reframing perspectives on multiple histories and identity

English
272 pages
17 x 24 cm
ISBN 9789464665178