Memorial Gestures is a project of critical engagement with Holocaust history through contemporary creative practices produced by Holocaust Centre North. This website is a container documenting research produced by our artists, writers and translators in residence, as well as artworks, publications, events and exhibitions.

The aim of Holocaust Centre North’s creative programming is to open up spaces for nuanced conversations on how Holocaust memory is changing with fewer eyewitness accounts to hand; the way histories and the commemoration of atrocity are used and misused, and the intersections of Holocaust history with other histories of persecution, colonialism, racism, migration and genocide. By ensuring that the atrocities of the Nazi genocide are never forgotten we seek to raise awareness of human rights, freedom and equality.

Memorial Gestures is also a yearly, paid residency programme. Through this programme 3 artists, 1 writer & 1 translator are invited to explore Holocaust Centre North’s Archive and over the span of 9 months they respond to themes and material they feel have contemporary relevance.

Our educational, academic and artistic programming is shaped by a community-led approach, working in dialogue with survivors and their descendants. At every stage of our development, we continually return to the core values of bearing witness to the truth and showing solidarity with survivors.