Open Eyes and Open Minds

Crossing borders, telling European stories about World War Two, and seeing to it that they are heard and never forgotten.

Every year, on January 27th, young people throughout Europe strengthen the significance of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day through theatrical commemoration performances. In January 2025, there will be performances in Turin, Budapest, Berlin, Bratislava, Prague, Warsaw, Goleniów, Helsingør, and Amsterdam as part of the manifestation Theatre of Remembrance, a project initiated by our parent organisation, Theater Na de Dam. This project has been growing since 2018 and every year we produce a campaign photo to unify these projects across countries and highlight an important message within our programme.

This year, we worked with the talented photographer, Hilde Harshagen, who graduated from the Foto Academie Amsterdam in 2012 before working with de Volkrant for over ten years. Now with her own business as a freelance photographer, she has crafted a distinctive and eye-catching style, which you can browse on her website or Instagram. As quoted by Villamedia.nl in 2022, she stated ‘the flash and I are two peas in a pod’.

For this campaign, she works with the flash again, ‘shedding light on something that should not be forgotten’. Hilde developed the concept for this image saying‘ we must keep all our eyes open, and we will not forget either’. This inspired the idea to ask a make-up artist to paint countless eyes on a model, highlighting the importance of staying vigilant in this way, and the power that comes when we do this together. We decided to work with youngsters for this photoshoot because they also represent the Theatre of Remembrance project. We hope this image can encourage other young people to join us in keeping our eyes and minds open. Hilde also chose this concept to make a statement and create a stand-out image that you will not quickly forget.

The make-up was realised by make-up artist Anja Derks, whose work you can browse on her website. Anja works as a freelance make-up artist since 2007 and has a clientele throughout Limburg where she is based, and far beyond. For this shoot we also worked with two youngsters associated with the theatre world, Daan van Gorp and Amanda Jønck. Here’s what Amanda had to say about it…

“Modelling for the Theatre of Remembrance campaign was such a pleasant experience; I got to meet some new people who were all so kind and fun to talk to, it was a really comfortable environment. The make-up artist, Anja Derks, created a really unique look which I loved and the photographer was both calm and precise in her work, but also hyping up the models, which was nice!

I chose to be a part of the photo shoot because it sounded like an interesting experience and I thought it would be fun to dress up and pose! I also wanted to learn about modelling and to have someone give feedback on my posing and I got some help there too. Overall it was a good experience”.

Amanda explained that modelling for the Theatre of Remembrance was also another step in pursuing her interest in modelling and acting. She has performed in theatre plays already and will be a part of the cast for the Theatre of Remembrance performance happening at the National Holocaust Museum this January 27th, called ‘Like Underwater’. You can find out who else will be in the cast and much more about this performance here.