Join us online or in person for a seminar with PhD candidate Robyn Fuerst.

Understanding trauma through the senses.

‘Memories, secrets and trauma of Holocaust survivors and the second generation.’( Master of Arts- Deakin 2019) is a highly personal journey into the life of a Dunera Boy and the missing parts of the puzzle his daughter is trying to find.

Robyn Fuerst is a second-generation Holocaust survivor who was handed an envelope full of unseen documents after the death of her father.

She knew very little of his time escaping Vienna in 1937, his journey on the Dunera and the time he spent in the internment camps in Hay and Tatura.

Her methodology embraces diverse sources that include ethnographic writing, travel, Historical fiction and music as well as the studio.

Her current PhD research on Hidden trauma continues to explore the idea that we understand trauma more fully through the senses, and that text alone is not enough. The visual and performing arts often act as bridge for those who have experienced trauma in all its forms.

11am, 10th July 2024

Burwood: C2.05.01
Waurn Ponds: IC2.108
Zoom: Click here

Robyn Fuerst is currently undertaking her PhD at Deakin. Her project looks at Hidden Trauma through Practice Led Research. She is a multi-disciplinary artist and has a strong auto ethnographic writing practice. Her father escaped from Vienna during World War 2 and sailed on the infamous ship, the Dunera from England to Australia. Her research into this part of history has been pivotal for her studio work and writing.