Exodus
Positioned between history, myth, and personal recollection, Exodus captures the fragile nature of memory in exile. The sea and horizon, ever-present in the journey, shift between symbols of escape and entrapment, hope and uncertainty. A fragmented seascape unfolds—at once a threshold between past and future and a reminder of the distances, both physical and emotional, that migration leaves behind.
Exodus traces the childhood memories of Laufer’s father, who, at just three and a half years old in 1947, became one of more than 4,500 Jewish refugees aboard the Exodus 1947. The ship, a symbol of post-war displacement and resistance, carried Holocaust survivors seeking a home in the British-controlled Mandate of Palestine—only to be violently turned away.
For decades, Laufer’s father barely spoke of this passage. Now, with the clarity of age and the unguarded perspective of childhood, his memories resurface—not weighed down by nostalgia nor shaped by bitterness, but existing as moments suspended in time.
Through this work, Exodus reflects on the imprints of displacement across generations—on the echoes of untold stories, the intersection of personal and collective memory, and the role of art in preserving and transforming them.
Photo © Ronja Falkenbach
