The Objects of Love, a new exhibition from Dublin-based art dealer and curator Oliver Sears, tells the story of a family torn apart in Nazi-occupied Poland, through a collection of precious objects, photographs, and documents. 

The Objects of Love will be on display at 92NY's Weill Art Gallery in New York from September 13 through November 28. Several events in conjunction with the exhibition are also scheduled.

In the exhibition, told through a curated collection of precious family objects, photographs, and documents passed down through three generations, London-born Dublin-based art dealer Oliver Sears vividly brings to life the story of individual lives – his mother Monika and grandmother Kryszia – torn apart in Nazi-occupied Poland and beyond.

"The Objects of Love" was shown at Dublin Castle in 2022 to great acclaim; The Irish Examiner said “it touches the very essence of what it is to be human.” 

In an immersive audio guide, visitors are invited to listen to Oliver Sears narrate the lives of his mother Monika and grandmother Kryszia in an epic story of love, loss, and survival.

Using the fragments hidden away and saved through a period of nearly unimaginable horror and violence, The Objects of Love is a record of a family tenaciously refusing to let its story — and its sense of human dignity — be wiped away.

At once a powerful document of witness and a bulwark against a rising tide of contemporary antisemitic sentiment, The Objects of Love is a multi-sensory storytelling experience that commands attention with the most fragile and ephemeral materials — materials that have, against all odds, survived erasure. 

“Perhaps it is only on a biblical scale that the courage found by those swept up in the Holocaust can be measured and, in that historical context, the repentance and reflection demanded of us during these holy days be understood," said Sears.

"As democracy in the Americas and Europe come under threat from a new wave of populism and the last remaining survivors of the Holocaust leave us, The Objects of Love serves as a reminder to us all exactly what is at stake when the rule of law is dismantled and the rights of the individual no longer count.

"As the founder of Holocaust Awareness Ireland, I’m honored to be part of 92NY’s 150th year celebration, bringing The Objects of Love to a New York City institution incomparable for its contribution to art, culture, and politics.”

For the opening on September 13, Oliver Sears is joined by award-winning author Daniel Mendelsohn for a conversation illuminating the exhibition, and on November 6, he joins Rabbi David Ingber for a discussion in memory of the 85th anniversary of Kristallnacht.

To close the exhibition on November 28, he speaks with 92NY CEO Seth Pinsky in the afternoon and with a moderator to be announced in the evening.

You can learn more about The Objects of Love exhibition and conversations at 92NY in New York here.

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