Diana Blok in the Art Gallery

In the project Time Tells, the Dutch Argentinian photographer Diana Blok (1952) explores her complex family history. Her Jewish father, Philip Blok, worked for the Turkish ambassador in The Hague. In 1938, the ambassador took him to Buenos Aires. As a result, he survived the Shoah (Holocaust). He concealed his Jewish background from Blok’s mother and their children, and bore the grief of the loss of his murdered parents and brother alone.

Over time, Blok has portrayed this history in photography, text, and film. In a documentary, which is shown in the museum, Blok speaks with the family of the Turkish ambassador in Istanbul, whom she met by chance when she was in Turkey for another project.

Cover image: Diana Blok, Wailing Wall I, 2012, archival pigment print, 2012 | Collection Joods Museum