Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) ritual sash

Blanche Tilden
born Australia, 1968

Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) ritual sash (bandolier) 2007
glass, 925 silver and nylon coated stainless steel cable
Courtesy of the artist and Gallery Funaki, Melbourne

In 2007 Tilden, together with a number of other craftspeople, was invited to create work in response to the idea of new ritual objects for aspects of Jewish ceremony (Tilden is not Jewish). The works created were to be categorised in terms of the Home, Shabbat (The Sabbath), Pesach (Passover), Purim (Feast of Lots), Chanukah (Festival of Lights), Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year), Sukkot (Tabernacles), and Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day).

This long sash can be worn like a necklace or diagonally across the body. The two colours are inspired by the tallith (Jewish prayer shawl), which is traditionally white with blue stripes. The evenly spaced rods of white and blue glass rods resemble a conveyor belt. They represent a train track, respectfully referencing the final journey taken by train of 6 million men, women, and children. This work draws on the visual language and metaphor of movement, industrial process, and bureaucracy, informed by the terrible events of the Holocaust.