From 5 May to 12 July, a new exhibition by German artists Uwe Appold and Roger Nyssen will be on display at Museum de Schat van Simpelveld.
They drew inspiration from the war diary of Sister Maria Theresia Kummer. Working independently, each created a series of twelve paintings in which they interpret fragments and emotions from the diary in their own way.
Sister Kummer, a member of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Poor Child Jesus, kept a diary at Huize Loreto during the last ten months of the war. As the fighting around Aachen drew closer, she described the daily lives of the monastic community, local residents and soldiers in an area increasingly shaped by war.
Her poignant notes were recorded in the book Echo uit Huize Loreto (Donné Jaegers, Heemkundevereniging Simpelveld-Bocholtz).
“In the afternoon, while doing the dishes, a piece of the house façade suddenly comes crashing down, right in front of the refectory windows. … In front of our house, soldiers are standing with machine guns. … Then the village siren starts to sound, and soon it whines and crackles all around us.”
Passages like these form the historical source for the paintings in this exhibition. In their work, Appold and Nyssen each offer their own visual interpretation of these personal testimonies.
The exhibition brings together a historical voice and contemporary art around one enduring and relevant message: stay in peace.
