Rockford
Art Museum presents an exhibition of four installations by internationally recognized
Chicago-based artist Gerda Meyer Bernstein, who addresses thorny global issues
in work that explores both her personal history as a Holocaust survivor and
the collective history of humanity. In (Un)Civil Histories, Bernstein
presents a civilized environment in which visitors experience very “uncivilized”
events in history. Each piece is rooted in a major issue or event of history
itself: the Holocaust in Tribunal; civil unrest and the countless missing
people in The Army of the Disappeared; human rights violations in Exit
Only; and casualties of war in her newest piece, The Untold Story. Her
installations are powerful yet poetic reminders of atrocities committed against
one another, designed to allow for personal experiences that elicit one desired
response: compassion.