Holly Streekstra

A memorial artwork in honor of Jewish-Hungarian composer Rezső Seress – composer of the song “Gloomy Sunday”. Shortly after Seress wrote the now famous song in 1933, it was changed. The haunting melody remained, but a tragic love song, sang by Billie Holiday saw the replacement of the original words. For this reason, Seress’ native Hungarian lyrics remain largely unknown. A victim of Nazi labor camps, his words about war and apocalypse were a reflection of the despair of living in WWII Europe – a sentiment that ends in a prayer. The translation of the passage “Vége a Világnak/End of the world” is cut into a window shade. The words project onto a domed frame containing dirt from the grave of Rezső Seress, give voice to a lost expression.