Inna Rogatchi’s The Route. Family Edition exhibition has opened at Jewish Memory & Holocaust in Ukraine Museum in Dnepropetrovsk. The new museum is the largest of its kind in both Eastern and Central Europe, and is part of the highly reputed Tkuma (Revival) Historical Studies Institute.
The Route. Family Edition is a 25-piece collection of Inna’s work on the forcible way of Jewish people throughout history, from early medieval age throughout present day, and covers 15 countries. The author has worked on this collection for more than ten years, from 2002 until 2013.
The historic route researched and depicted by Inna in her fine art photography series also reflects the way of both Inna’s and her husband Michael’s families; the way which follows the respective routes of Buyanover–Chigrinsky–Pinsky–Elovich and Reis/Rice–Litowsky–Rogatchi families throughout the centuries. This journey goes through Spain and Portugal to Italy and France, further on through Germany and Poland to Lithuania and Ukraine, includes Kazakhstan and gets to Finland. It also includes places which are connected with both the history of the Jewish people and with the personal stories of both of their families – such as Austria and Great Britain. But of course, Israel and its heart, Jerusalem, have a central place in the collection, marking the beginning and the end of The Route, both literally and metaphorically.
From Toledo to Almaty – the span of the route. Works from Inna Rogatchi’s The Route. Family Edition collection. Toledo Memories (left) and Asian Winds I.
Inna and The Rogatchi Foundation have donated The Route. Family Edition collection to the Jewish Memory and Holocaust in Ukraine Museum in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine in memory of Inna’s father, Isaac Buyanover who was a brilliant engineer, esteemed inventor, talented photographer, and devoted patriot of his Jewish people.
According to the museum, after two months of public exhibition (June 20th – August 20th, 2013), the collection will stay on permanent dispay in the museum, and will also become a part of further international inter-museum exhibition exchanges, including the highly reputed museums of Krakow, Toronto, Lviv, Moscow, Warsaw and others.
As with her other art photography projects, Inna Rogatchi has created a musical video-essay for The Route. Family Edition which is also on display at both the museum and the Menorah, the largest Jewish community centre in the world located in Dnepropetrovsk.