Cindy Crawford, Jennifer Garner, Billy Porter and other stars posed for portraits with Holocaust survivors in an effort to educate people about that dark time in history.
Photographer Bryce Thompson — who has shot for high-fashion magazines like Elle, L’Officiel, and Glamour — put the project, “Borrowed Spotlight,” together.
It’ll debut at Detour Gallery on April 22 to honor Holocaust Remembrance Day.
David Schwimmer, George Stephanopoulos, Nicola Peltz, Barbara Corcoran, Scooter Braun, Sheryl Sandberg, Chelsea Handler, Julius Erving, and Josh Peck posed with survivors for the project.
“Step Up” star Jenna Dewan was paired up with Risa Igelfeld, who witnessed the destruction caused by the Nazis firsthand when they invaded Vienna, Austria, in 1938.
Igelfeld survived because she was tipped off by a soldier about a Nazi plot to assault her. She escaped to England with the help of a former professor, who had previously fled, who helped her to secure a visa.
Dewan tells Page Six, “It is truly an incredible and humbling opportunity to be a part of such an amazing moment honoring the resilience and bravery of these amazing true survivors. Meeting and listening to Risa’s story was life-changing for me.”
“The most fun part [of the project] was dancing together and hearing Risa sing,” Dewan tells us. “The most challenging was hearing the firsthand account of the true horrors of our history that Risa endured during the Holocaust.”
The exhibition will feature portraits, survivor testimonies, and interactive elements aimed at educating the public about the Holocaust.
According to a poll by the ADL, “20 percent of respondents worldwide have not heard about the Holocaust. Less than half (48 percent) recognize the Holocaust’s historical accuracy, which falls to 39 percent among 18- to 34-year-olds.”
Prints from the exhibition will be auctioned off and Thompson also has a coffeetable book with the images. Proceeds will benefit Self Help, which provides services and assistance to living Holocaust survivors in New York, and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
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