Il peint avec des cendres de camp de concentration

Carl Michael von Hausswolff claims he used ashes he took from a crematorium at the Majdanek concentration camp in 1989, mixing them with water to create the painting entitled "Memory Works".



The monochrome work, featuring vertical brushstrokes in a rectangle representing the suffering of the victims, is on display at the Martin Bryder Gallery in the southern Swedish town of Lund.

"In 2010 I pulled out the jar of ashes and decided to 'do something' with it. I took out a few sheets of watercolour paper and decided to cover just a rectangular space with ashes mixed with water.



"When I stepped back and looked at the pictures, they 'spoke' to me: figures appeared... as if the ashes contained energy or memories or 'souls' from people... people tortured, tormented and murdered by other people in one of the most ruthless wars of the 20th century."