What is left of Czesława’s short and tragic life are snippets of information that allow us to establish traces of individualized memory. We know that Czesława was born on August 15, 1928 in Wólka Złojecka, a small village in the Polish Zamość region that fell victim to Hitler’s Lebensraum (living space) – the ideological policy of territorial expansion into Eastern Europe. We also know that she was arrested alongside her mother, Katarzyna, who received number 26949 and perished in the camp on February 18, 1943. The three images that Marina Amaral colorized in her studio in Brazil are the last indexical evidence of Czesława’s life, arrest, and brutal death.
Amaral started colorizing black-and-white photos in 2015 after finding an inspiring collection of WWII color photos online. The very first image that she colorized was a portrait of an American Civil War soldier. Past the initial fascination with the process and techniques of colorization, what has kept Amaral invested in combining history and technology has been the notion of bringing history to life. However, it was not until Czesława Kwoka’s colorized image went viral on Twitter that Marina realized the power and responsibility her work holds.
Initially, it wasn’t clear whether it was the heartbreaking story of Czesława Kwoka’s short tragic life or the color used to bring her history closer to the online audiences that made the post viral. An overwhelming outpouring of comments and follow-up questions directed at the Museum and Marina suggest that both factors played a role. Learning that 14-year old Czesława was brutally beat with a leather whip moments before the camp photographer released the camera shutter individualized her story. Color allows the audiences to notice stains of barely coagulated blood on Czesława’s swollen bruised lips and empathize more with a young girl who posed for three distinct shots standard in prison photography: a profile shot, an en face shot, and a head-covering shot with a headscarf. Color makes visual testimony and record more relevant and compelling to social media and digital natives.
Marina Amaral