Turkish artist Yusuf Tolga Ünker colourises black and white photos from the Holocaust with the goal of making the past alive; to force the viewer to see these events as happening today.
Yusuf says, “There is a safety in viewing the black and white photos from the Holocaust era. When we see the haunting eyes and faces of the tormented and tortured souls who were victimised by Nazi brutality, we can distance ourselves from the horrors that befell them due to the old look of those black and white pictures. With careful and respectful colourising, these long-ago images transform into modern and relatable images that could have been photographed in the present.”
“For the deniers and ‘forgetters’, these colourised photos and paintings will confront their refusal to accept the reality of horror and destruction that the Nazis unleashed on the Jews of Europe during the 1930s and 40s.
“The truth can be shocking for some, however the price of ignoring the truth of the past, can only allow us to repeat it in the future.”
Tolga colourised the front cover of CUFI’s February 2018 TORCH magazine.
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