7. A Glimpse at the Abyss (2025) – Chebo Roitter Pavez

2025. Installation of pastel drawings on black paper and risograph printed publication 

Across seven panels, Chebo Roitter Pavez weaves together the
voices of 16 Holocaust survivors, tracing the spread of Nazi ideology
across Europe and the escalating discrimination, persecution, and
violence faced by Jewish communities. Set against black paper, his vivid,
gestural lines merge writing and drawing into layered visual tapestries
that foreground the resilience of Jewish life in the face of centuries-old
antisemitism—and, in particular, the rise of Nazism in the 1930s.

Roitter Pavez’s aesthetic is grounded in wide-ranging visual research into
the cultural heritage of European Jewry, from the Middle Ages to the
early twentieth century. He draws from the work of Jewish artists whose
legacies persist despite historical efforts to erase them.

His effort to chronicle the rise of Nazism is also a reflection on the
persistence of fascist ideologies today, and urges viewers to recognise
how such narratives can resurface, often in new forms, if left unchallenged.

With thanks to the families whose collections feature in this work: Liesel
Carter, John Chillag, Ibi Ginsburg, Arek Hersh, Martin Kapel, Klaus Samson,
Trude Silman, Ruth & Ernest Sterne & the families of John Martins, Joanna
Leser, Tom Kubie, Heinz Skyte & Iby Knill – Chris Knill & Pauline Kinch.
Courtesy of Holocaust Centre North Archive.

1 – THERE IS STILL LIGHT, THEREFORE WE CAN SEE. Fortunate enough to tell a story. (150 x 145 cm)

2 – ALL COLORS ARE PRESENT IN A SINGLE BEAM OF LIGHT. Assimilation and Difference. (150 x 190 cm)

3 – EVERYTHING IS WITHIN GRAVITY’S PULL – A POINT IS REACHED, BEYOND WHICH THERE IS NO RETURN. Country and city (150 x 75 cm)

4 – A COLLAPSE THAT TEARS APART THE FABRIC OF SPACE & TIME. Manifestations of violence.(150 x 100 cm)

5 – SINGULARITY TRIES TO ENGULF MULTIPLICITY. Learning Environment and Yellow Stars.(150 x 100 cm)

6 – VASTNESS IS CRUMPLED INTO A SINGLE POINT OF INFINITE DENSITY.
Anschluss, Kristallnacht and 1939. (150 x 150 cm)

7 – THE VOID WILL REMAIN UNTIL THE END OF TIME, CASTING AN UNKNOWABLE SHADOW.
The Universal Holocaust (150 x 150 cm)

A Glimpse at the Abyss – Early recollections of racism, absolute power and instrumentalised cruelty.
Gold risography over black paper book, 14.85 x 21 cm