Description:

Cuando Tenía Tus Años/When I Had Your Years is a publication that chronicles the journey my grandfather (I called him Abu) took as a child in his escape from Eastern Europe to Argentina during the Holocaust. Abu was born in October of 1936 in Warsaw, making him just two years old when Germany invaded Poland to mark the start of World War II. The following years were a disharmonious upheaval of his childhood, repeatedly, until he settled in Argentina with his mother and aunt.

This large-format publication contains a collection of Abu’s short stories - which he wrote later in life - in Spanish (his fourth learnt language) and English (his sixth). The thirteen stories are accompanied by photographs from an extensive family photo database and are complemented by technical details and design elements that provide further context into this family history investigation. The double-page spreads are filled with Abu’s pivotal reflections and photos preserved by my grandmother (I call her Bela), many of which communicate their epic love story.

Translucent butter paper mimics glassine paper used in photo albums to protect the integrity of the contained physical photographs. Printed solely in black and white, the dust jacket and inserts act like footnotes providing further context by laying on top of the vibrant contents. They translate, recount, and reinterpret the stories, creating temporal layers of narrative. A good example of this is even in the project’s title: Cuando Tenía Tus Años colloquially means ‘when I was your age’, but When I Had Your Years, the direct translation, is more literal and poetic, reflective both of Abu’s writing style as well as the process of translating Abu’s stories from Spanish to English that I underwent with my grandmother.

The scale of the book juxtaposes the portability of Abu’s childhood; marked by persecution and relocation, the vastness of Abu’s lived experience was made up only of what could fit in his pockets.

Photography serves as a time-travel device - in my own spin on collage and photomontage, I was able to stitch together moments from each of our lives to create alternate timelines in an exploration of past, present, and future.

The publication is presented in a sturdy wooden box laser-engraved with the title. It forms a protective house for my grandfather’s memory and emulates the box my dad made for his ashes when he passed away at the end of 2020.

In a post-Holocaust era, understanding the scale and trauma of Jewish persecution leading up to and during World War Two is complicated and overwhelming. As generations pass, physical artefacts and personal testimonies become even more vital for cultural preservation and historical continuity. How to truthfully hold someone’s memory and capture their essence? This project was an investigation of how publication design could transform my family history into a lived experience drawing on humanity and warmth, while also considering the broader experience of the Jewish People through a new lens: resilience in the face of grief.