THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE PROJECT

 THE LIBRARY PROJECT: At Work With Elie Wiesel  

FORWARD

Details: Each word carries an image, a sentiment, an idea, a memory, a sliver of inspiration that contains layer upon layer of significance. At once author, philosopher, and storyteller, Elie Wiesel reaches into the past charting a new course forward where we the reader can greet the past and consider the future.

Collections: Books, stacks of manuscripts, paper clips and pencils, letters waiting to be read... the artist’s desk opens a portal to an infinitesimal library of souvenirs and musings of what is yet to be. The inspiration lives within the personal memory of experience. 

Questions: Who was the man, the activist, the philosopher, the historian, the artist? Focusing a lens on the details of his papers, books, musings, and notes offers the possibility of understanding Elie Wiesel in a new light. This unique portfolio of Wiesel’s personal study (left intact since his passing in 2016) gives each of us a glimpse into his inspired process where he shares his vulnerability and strength, opening up cultural and religious boundaries. Frozen in time, Wiesel has left us with mountains of evidence to interpret within our shared human experience.

- Gay Feldman

THE ELIE WIESEL FOUNDATION FOR HUMANITY

Elie Wiesel and his wife, Marion, established The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity soon after he was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize for Peace. The Foundation’s mission, rooted in the memory of the Holocaust, is to combat indifference, intolerance and injustice through international dialogue and youth-focused programs that promote acceptance, understanding and equality. To learn about Elie Wiesel visit eliewieselfoundation.org.

The Library Project is part of Katzenstein’s larger body of work, The Human Experience, a collection of his visual explorations that span over the past 30 years. His work presents the positive aspects of peoples and cultures, and takes the viewer on countless journeys near and far.