Marta Popivoda, “What Lies Above Us in The Shadows Like a Black Cloud”, (2024), 2 channel 4k video, stereo sound, 23 min loop, still.
Marta Popivoda, Nina Jirsíková and Lidice Women
Join us for the opening of two shows at Lidice Gallery on Thursday, 12 June 2025, at 5 pm. We are erecting these exhibitions as part of the 80th anniversary of the return of the surviving Lidice Women from the Ravensbrück Concentration Camp. These exhibitions illuminate a previously little-known aspect of their imprisonment, highlighting their ability to preserve their human dignity and inner freedom through artistic expression.
The first exhibition, titled What Lies Above Us Like a Black Cloud in Shadow, features the work of Serbian artist Marta Popivoda. This exhibition visually integrates footage from the Lidice Memorial's memorial area with historical images, alongside the authentic recitation of a poem by Anna Kvapilová (1905-1992) by the last surviving Lidice woman, Jaroslava Skleničková (1927-2024). Anna Kvapilová was a librarian, social worker, and anti-fascist resistance fighter. She later emigrated to Norway following the 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état.
The second exhibition, We Are Survivors on a Cracked Rock, presents for the first time authentic objects created by the Lidice Women while in the Ravensbrück Concentration Camp. It brings them into a dialogue with the intimate work of their fellow prisoner, artist Nina Jirsíková (1910-1978). Her works are on loan from the Terezín Memorial's collections. The titles of both exhibitions come from excerpts of Kvapilová's poems, namely Oh to See Again... and A Piece of Bread.
As Jirsíková reflected in her memoirs, "For the person who was there, the camp is still real." Similarly, the women of Lidice, from whom only 143 survived the horrors of the Nazi regime, returned home in 1945 burdened with traumatic memories. However, many managed to preserve minor artefacts created in the Camp—silent witnesses to their defiance and desire for life.
These objects, often made from scraps and makeshift materials, are not merely historical exhibits; they are profound testaments to the strength of the human spirit in the most challenging circumstances. Their work encompasses not only hardships but also moments of solidarity and human harmony.
