January 15. 2026

Zekelman Holocaust Center’s ‘The Holocaust & Art as Resistance’ exhibit debuts at Ferris Fine Art Gallery

Photo of The Holocaust & Art as Resistance exhibit inside the Ferris Fine Arty Gallery room

BIG RAPIDS, Mich. —

A Zekelman Holocaust Center display about art and resistance during the Holocaust is making its debut with a special, limited exhibition at the Ferris Fine Art Gallery.

The exhibit is on display until Friday, Jan. 23.

The Zekelman Holocaust Center initially launched the traveling exhibition to create accessibility for those unable to visit the center’s permanent museum in southeast Michigan.

“By presenting historical evidence alongside artistic response, this exhibition underscores the importance of remembrance and critical engagement,” said Carrie Weis, Gallery and Museum director for Ferris State University. “It calls upon audiences to reflect on the consequences of hatred and indifference, and to recognize their own responsibility in confronting injustice today.”

Weis said Tracy Busch, a history professor at Ferris State, was a catalyst in bringing the new traveling exhibit to the main campus as Busch continues to play a vital role in connecting Ferris State students with Holocaust education through ongoing work with the ZHC.

Although there currently aren’t plans to make the traveling exhibit an annual initiative, Weis and Busch hope for a return in the future.

A closing reception and presentation for The Holocaust & Art as Resistance display is also planned, as SHOAH Archives will be displayed to the audience and Mari Kermit-Canfield, Creative Learning librarian and professor of Library and Instructional Services, will appear as a guest speaker.

From the viewpoint of her grandfather, a Holocaust survivor, Kermit-Canfield recounts her Jewish family’s experience with the Nazi occupation of Vienna, Austria during WWII. This includes the family’s forced experience in and escaping concentration camps, the family’s journey to America, and their experience as new Jewish immigrants during the war.

The gallery is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the David Eisler Center in Room 205. Next week’s closing reception and presentation is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 20, at 5 p.m. in the gallery.