Blue Skies and Machine Gun Sounds Shown At New FIU MBUS Art Exhibit

Dante Nahai/Contributing Writer 

Stories of inspiration and artistic technique was shared at the opening of the “Promised Land” exhibit at FIU’s Miami Beach Urban Studios.

The artist of the exhibit, Pawel Nowak, said that his pictures of blue skies were taken from concentration camps and the portraits were photos of Jewish people that were forced into the camps.

“The portraits are family photos and identification pictures of the Polish Jewish population, pre-World War II,” he said. “The sky can be seen as the last thing these people saw, resulting in the end of their life and story.”

Each of the portraits show a mark of red wax, representing blood.

Pawel used blood on these pictures to show as a point of similarity between humanity.

“What all humans have in common is blood,” Pawel said.

Another part of the exhibit shows a movie projection of a series of numbers spreading across a screen.

Each time a number flashed, a repetitive ticking noise went off, almost sounding like a machine gun firing off.

The curator of the exhibit, Jacek J. Kolasinski, interpreted the white screen and the amplifying sound of an echo on the mechanical numerator as representing memory and consciousness.

Pawel made this exhibit site-specific for MBUS and spent one year to research and complete it.

Colette Mello, the Senior Special Events Manager at MBUS spoke on the importance of this exhibit.

“Art is supposed to be educational and motivational and to inspire viewers to do bigger and better things,” said Mello.

She had firm emphasis on the importance to have Holocaust remembrance.

FIU students are encouraged to go not just to see the art, but to gain valuable experience and story from the exhibit.

Open Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at 420 Lincoln Rd. Suite 440, Miami Beach, FL 33139. Free. Exhibition runs through Jan. 30.