Worlds Remembered, Worlds Lost – an evening of memory, art, photography and responsibility

On Sunday 26th April, The Together Plan hosted a deeply moving two-part event, Worlds Remembered, Worlds Lost, bringing audiences into conversation about the vibrancy of prewar Jewish life and the quiet echoes of its absence today.

The evening began with an immersive workshop exploring the rich world of the prewar shtetl through the extraordinary artworks of Mayer Kirshenblatt. Having left his hometown of Opatów, Poland, at just 17 in 1934, Kirshenblatt only began painting at the remarkable age of 73. Entirely self-taught, he dedicated his later years to reconstructing, from memory, the everyday life of the Jewish communities he had known in his youth. His paintings are alive with colour, humour, and detail – capturing market scenes, traditions, and ordinary moments that might otherwise have been lost to history. They offer not just artistic expression, but an invaluable personal archive of a once-thriving world.

This curated session, inspired by the original exhibition at POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, was designed by the Taube Center for Jewish Life & Learning with support from the European Association for the Preservation and Promotion of Jewish Culture and Heritage. It invited participants to reflect on how memory, art, photography and storytelling preserve not only history, but identity.

Following a warm and convivial buffet, the tone of the evening shifted toward contemporary reflection. Special guest Lewis James Phillips, a landscape and documentary photographer and volunteer with The Together Plan, shared his deeply personal journey into Holocaust memory in Eastern Europe. Currently working on projects in Poland and planning future work in Belarus, Phillips brings a quiet, contemplative lens to sites marked by absence.

In conversation with Debra Brunner, he spoke about what led him to this work and the profound responsibility he feels to document and share these landscapes of memory. Through a selection of his photography, often stark and rendered in black and white, audiences were invited to confront the contrast between what once was and what remains. We also heard insights from his forthcoming book, The Screaming Silence, which further explores these themes of loss, presence, and remembrance.

Together, the two halves of the evening formed a powerful and poignant dialogue. Kirshenblatt’s vivid, colourful depictions of Jewish life stand in striking contrast to Phillips’ restrained, meditative images of absence. Yet both are united by a shared purpose: to remember, to bear witness, and to ensure that these stories continue to be told.

Worlds Remembered, Worlds Lost was not only an event, but an experience, one that called on all present to reflect on the importance of education, memory, and personal responsibility in keeping these histories alive.

For more information about the ‘Worlds Remembered, Worlds Lost’ event or the work of The Together Plan, please get in touch – [email protected]