Gambletron, Johnny Forever Nawracaj, and zev tiefenbach | Diasporist Anchors for Future Memory

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Johnny Forever Nawracaj, “Tarłów Synagogue with AI iii,” 2024, archival pigment print, 10" x 10" (photo courtesy of Kamloops Art Gallery)

Diasporist Anchors for Future Memory is rooted in the artists’ Eastern European Jewish heritage. Through photographs, videos, soundscapes, and radio broadcasts, the artists explore diasporic collective memory, focusing on Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry in Poland. Gambletron and tiefenbach, both Ashkenazi, draw from personal histories. tiefenbach’s grandparents were Holocaust survivors and Gambletron's grandfather was a notable Rabbi who immigrated to Canada in 1910. Nawracaj, a Slavic Pole, joins the project to explore their connections to the same region.

As part of their research, the artists journeyed through Eastern Europe. By returning to these lands, the artists attempt to situate themselves within their recurring family histories of re-settlement and form a sense of queer, nonbinary, Ashkenazi-Slavic ancestral connection. Their project confronts distortions of antisemitism and generational trauma, including by the Israeli government and other Zionist interests, offering tools for community and resistance.