White Noise: Untitled #9

White Noise: Untitled #9, 1999.
C-print mounted on aluminum.
31 1/2″ x 39 1/2″.
Courtesy of the Pizzuti Collection.

During a cross-country train ride from Krakow to Auschwitz, Gersht realized that he was riding on the same rails used to transport Jewish people to concentration camps. The windowless railcars had no seats and an no windows for the fearful captives to see the landscape through which they traveled. They assumed they were being taken to labor camps, and many died before arriving. Using a tripod and camera aimed at the landscapes beyond the railcar windows, Gersht photographed the scenes at slow shutter speed allowing the recorded images to blur in beautifully evocative ways. In so doing, trees, structures and clouds seem to slip away like memories in the process of forgetting. Interestingly, these images recall famous paintings by German artist Gerhard Richter which were based on photographic images.

–Natalie Marsh
Director, Gund Gallery