Invited to Life: Finding Hope after the Holocaust

(Hardback)

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Description

A moving and joyful celebration of not only survival but also resilience and joy, expressed through 90 black-and-white portraits of Holocaust survivors and personal stories of their postwar lives. The survivors, many photographed with their family members, share lessons they have learned and pass on the wisdom that comes from building a life of one's choosing out of the wreckage of despair. Van Sise, an award-winning 20-year veteran photojournalist, spent four years working with Holocaust museums and outreach organisations to compile these captivating images and textual vignettes. The result is an inspirational keepsake that readers will treasure. Completing the volume are essays by Dr. Mayim Bialik, Neil Gaiman, and Sabrina Orah Mark. AUTHOR: Van Sise is a 20-year veteran photojournalist whose work has been featured in major solo exhibitions at the Center for Creative Photography and the Center for Jewish History, as well as in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery. He is an Independent Book Publishers Awards gold medalist and a Prix de la Photographie Paris award winner. He lives in New York City. SELLING POINTS; . Both an art-photography book and a collection of inspirational recollections-the perfect gift for lovers of Jewish stories or anyone seeking a celebration of life . A beautiful cloth-bound volume that will accompany a traveling exhibition of the same name . Includes essays by Dr. Mayim Bialik, Neil Gaiman, and Sabrina Orah Mark 90 b/w images

Reviews

[Along with] handsome and sensitive portraits...Van Sise identifies lessons for our unsettled time. Invited to Life is a compelling and memorable portrait that testifies to the strength and endurance of the human spirit. Maron L. Waxman, Jewish Book Council
"Hefty, beautifully produced... [Van Sise] has done his job beautifully. He has been true to his intention: to show existence ongoing, life being lived." Michael R. Caplan, White Rose Magazine

"A truly powerful collection of images, stories, allegories and lives...Van Sise is writing with light, as if drawn by Picasso himself.
It is extremely difficult to make this look simple. The light transforms from a simple instrument and becomes representative of amusement and laughter, it is hope in the darkness, it is sunlight from an invisible window that warms and comforts. This is the stuff that moves mountains, the small action that ripples across millennia." Cary Benbow, F-Stop Magazine

"Thoughtful, kind and insightful, [Invited to Life] is, at different points, hilarious, breathtaking, and gut-wrenching. It's always worth your attention." Sara Beth Berman, Hey Alma

Poignant and exquisite. Karen Lehrman Bloch, Jewish Journal

Author Bio

Van Sise is a20-year veteran photojournalist whose work has been featured in major solo exhibitions at the Center for Creative Photography and the Center for Jewish History, as well as in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery. He is an Independent Book Publishers Awards gold medalist and a Prix de la Photographie Paris award winner. He lives inNew York City.bavansise.com