• Bringing Light From Darkness: Portraits of Holocaust Survivors

    Photography by Clifford Lester
    April 7 - May 26, 2025

A captivating display showcasing and honoring Holocaust survivors.


I am a retired professor of photography at Cypress College and the son of two Holocaust survivors. My mother, Ursula Lowenbach Foster, who immigrated to the U.S. from Amsterdam in 1947, was a childhood acquaintance of Anne Frank and is mentioned in her famous diary. She spent the last 18 months of World War II hiding with 15 people in a small crawlspace.

 

After her passing in 2004, I came across hundreds of letters from students she had shared her story with. Clearly, she had impacted their lives with her words of gratitude for life, courage, hope, and the imperative that we stand up for others. I knew from these letters that I needed to ensure her story continued to be told, as well as those of other survivors.

 

After years of deliberation, I decided to use my artistic skills and photograph the survivors against simple white backgrounds, in the style of famed portrait photographer Richard Avedon, so that their emotion and their souls would shine through without distraction. My goal is to capture the faith, courage, and raw emotion of these individuals as they share their personal stories with me. When selecting the final portrait, I aim to connect key elements of their testimony with powerful visual expressions, drawing in the viewer to witness these poignant moments.

 

Holocaust survivor Ellie Wiesel stated: “For the dead and the living, we must bear witness.” It is my wish that these portraits will forever honor the legacy of those who passed before us.