THE theme for this years’ Holocaust Memorial Day which took place recently was ‘Torn from Home’.

As part of Holocaust Memorial Week at QMC, students took the opportunity to focus their minds on those people who have suffered the experience of being torn from their homes and persecuted or been subject to genocide.

In their tutor groups, students discussed the impact that hatred has upon our understanding of the past and also considered the impact that the rise of extremism in the 21st century may have upon them. 

Presentations investigated the Jewish Holocaust and those in Rwanda, Sudan, Darfur, Bosnia and Cambodia with the overall aim being to encourage students to ‘Stand up to Hate.’

One tutor group took the opportunity to create meaningful visual responses to the Holocaust remembrance information used as a talking point in the session after stumbling across a slide that read ‘Your voice is powerful, use it.’

Teacher of art and personal tutor Laura Starke said: “We discussed as a group what we could do to communicate our thoughts and feelings in a visual context and then my students split off into groups to create collaborative pieces of artwork.”

One set of students created a barbed wire washing line from which they hung drawings and prints they created to illustrate old clothing, shoes and people trapped behind wire mesh alongside a large ink study of a boy in striped pyjamas.

Laura added: “Through the creation of this work they were able to express their ideas and create work with a visual impact.

“The most important theme of the session that emerged was to remember the people who suffered and prevent the mind-set of ignorance from reoccurring in their own generation.”

The work has been displayed in QMC’s library and throughout the college site.