Yizkor, the Jewish Way of Memory. The Case of Christian Boltanski’s Art

Abstract

Christian Boltanski’s works, especially the photographic medium that he uses most oft¬en, refer to the old formulas of memory and commemoration used by Jews called Yizkor, which literally means, remember, recollect. Boltanski, by formalizing or even celebrating the impermanence and changeability of this medium, opposes the belief in permanence of a material object, which paradoxically contributes to the death of its implied idea, that is, memory. However, by negating the form, he does not negate memory but the false traditional belief in its stability and permanence.