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Human Rights Week and Arte LatinX explore the roles art plays

“I have seen how young people whether Caucasion, African American, or Asian, identify with the Warsaw Boy.For them he isn’t an exclusively Jewish emblem, rather a signal of a timely warning on a universal scale. I believe that this boy’s grandeur comes from and belongs to eternity and the reason is that human history is a cruel enterprise. For endless centuries children have been savagely sacrificed and have fallen victims to unimaginable genocides, to brutal wars and to tribal feuds. Such horrors happened before the time of the Warsaw Boy, after his time, and they go on happening now all over the world.” --Samuel Bak

  • published: 2019/11/01
Warsaw Boy

Targeted is one of several Bak paintings of the Warsaw Boy at the UNO exhibit.

Sponsored by the Goldstein Family Community Chair in Human Rights, Human Rights Week is an annual series of events intended to educate the community about human rights concerns and to highlight the work of scholars, students, and community organizations in promoting human rights.

This year several foci involved examining the role of art in our lives and, more specifically, in communicating about human rights issues. A number of events were scheduled in tandem with the Bak exhibit including a workshop with Samuel Bak in which participants explored art, autobiography, and narrative.

“Witness: A Goldstein Symposium on Art and Human Rights” featured Gary Phillips, author of Just Is in the Art of Samuel Bak, playwright Hank Greenspan on The Witness as Dramatist and philosopher Lewis Gordon on Art and the Right to a Livable Life.

Alexander also coordinated efforts with the Office of Latino/Latin American Studies (OLLAS) and, Director Cristián Doña Reveco.

Several talks organized as part of Human Rights Week addressed immigration and cultural rights. Dr. Marjorie Agosin, Wellesley College, gave a talk on Weaving Hope: Gender, Art, and Resistance in Latin America, telling stories of how women have been especially effective in exposing the cruelty of military dictatorships through artistic expression.

"Arte LatinX: The Voice of our Roots," organized by OLLAS, ran concurrently with Human Rights Week, the Samuel Bak exhibit, and Latino Heritage Month. It included an exhibit by community artists at El Museo Latino, as well as artist talks and workshops.