YIVO

Letters to Afar

2014

$25,000

In a world of iPhones, Instagram, and selfies, the idea of using technology to capture informal family moments, street scenes, and trips abroad is nothing new. What’s lesser known is that this practice was popular even in the 1920s and 30s. Commissioned in part by YIVO, Letters to Afar is an exhibit based on home movies made by American Jews visiting the “old country” (Eastern Europe) between the wars. Artist Peter Forgacs has taken this archival footage and created layered new films. RPF’s funding will support exhibitions of this work at the Museum of the City of New York and the Contemporary Jewish Museum, giving a powerful and intimate window into the lives of a diverse and vibrant community of Jews.

Photograph from Letters to Afar: By Péter Forgács, music by the Klezmatics, courtesy YIVO Institute for Jewish Research