Marking the beginning of its 2014 season, the Kniznick Gallery at the Women's Studies Research Center hosted an opening reception for its first art exhibition of the year on last Thursday. Called Blood Memory: a view from the second generation, the exhibition is comprised of selected works by artist and graphic designer Lisa Rosowsky.

The artist, who resides in Massachusetts and teaches at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, uses her work as a medium to engage with memories of how her family was affected by the Holocaust.

The artist writes in a catalogue for the exhibition that "blood memory" is a term that she uses to describe her experience as a member of what she calls the "second generation"-that is, the second generation in her family after the Holocaust. Rosowsky writes that her family's collective memories live on in her life as "a lifetime of terrifying dreams; in the nameless fears of my childhood; in my desire to protect my parents; in the way I scope out a new room when I enter it, looking for good hiding places."

Walking into the Kniznick Gallery to muted gray walls, the somberness and gravity of Rosowsky's familial experience confronts the viewer immediately. Unlike other exhibits that have been staged in the space, the selection of Rosowsky's works on view is staged relatively starkly-there is ample room between each piece, allowing viewers to take in both the works themselves and the negative space of the room.

One of the first things that I noticed about the selection of works was the variety of mediums that Rosowsky uses-the works were crafted from wire, silk, plaster, canvas, wood, lights and repurposed or found objects. The range of mediums encourages a more interactive and lively experience as one walks through the exhibit, even though its subject is so serious.
The piece that caught my eye first was a life-size plaster angel, suspended from the ceiling and hanging above eye level, as if watching over the exhibition. Called the "Angel of Auschwitz," the white plaster figure wears a white silk dress that extends past its feet, down to the floor and trails off several feet behind it.

The gentle figure has subtle facial features, no hair and thin arms that fold up in front of her face, as if she is holding something that the viewer cannot see. Massive barbed wire wings weigh on her back, reaching a wingspan of approximately 12 feet, and in the barbed wire the words "Tod Macht Frei" are spelled out. The German phrase translates to "death will set you free," and alludes to the inscription above the entrance gates at Auschwitz, which reads "Arbeit Macht Frei," or "work will set you free." The angel epitomizes the exhibit in a simultaneously terrifying and soft manifestation. The haunting mood that the "Angel of Auschwitz" sets for the exhibition continues in other pieces that are staged at eye-level and use more familiar materials. For instance, in the center of the gallery, a work called "Designated Mourner" is positioned-the work itself is a floor-length black dress that Rosowsky sewed based on a pattern of a French mourning dress from 1901. The dress is fitted to a standing mannequin and across its back drapes a white silk shawl printed with blacks and grays, detailing images of barbed wire, crows flying overhead and people lined up as they are imprisoned in concentration camps.

The incredibly crisp images printed on the shawl reflect the artist's skills as a graphic designer, and this particular choice of medium challenges viewers to think about what it means to carry or "wear" memories and pain.

Other pieces on view incorporate family belongings such as gloves that belonged to her family members-white for those who survived the war and black for those who didn't-as well as photographs of the artist's family, and even some of her own drawings of the concentration camps that they were held in. Overall, each of Rosowsky's works embodies an intensely personal facet of her interactions with her family's memories of the Holocaust, and their love and their loss through it.