The artist thread of family memory

Naomi Ullmann has long been intrigued by fate and chance. For the Bondi-born, Illawarra-based artist, both are woven into her own family story.

She is the daughter of Romanian Jewish survivors of the Shoah, a history that continues to shape her work.

Nice ‘n Easy: a woven history, is Ullmann’s exhibition at the Tyler Gallery in Hobart, which has been three years in the making. It brings together her own pieces with works from the University of Tasmania’s Tyler Collection of Romanian art, alongside personal objects from her parents and grandparents.

“An artwork speaks to me if it moves me in a visceral way, makes me very present in that moment,” Ullmann said.

Her drawings for the show take their cues from the flora of the Rarau Massif and the traditional motifs of Bukovina, where her mother, Shula, grew up. To realise them, she worked with an embroiderer in her mother’s hometown.

“I collaborated with a local artist and embroiderer, Cezara-Iustina, who lives in Cumpulung, Shula’s hometown,” she told The AJN.

“My parents, Shula and Jona, each spoke fondly of an idyllic childhood and youth spent in the Romanian countryside prior to 1940,” Ullmann said.

Many of the Tyler artists were of that same era, but made their work under the dictatorship of Nicolae Ceausescu from 1967 to 1989.

“Today in our post-truth world, attempts are being made to erase historical facts, including those of the Holocaust,” Ullmann said.

“Considering the alarming speed at which lies are being spread on social media platforms, the artwork and personal stories in Nice ‘n Easy are more important than ever.”

Nice ‘n Easy: a woven history is at the Tyler Gallery until March 2027. An accompanying film featuring excerpts of Naomi Ullmann’s parents’ testimonies is available through the University of Tasmania, visit utas.edu.au/about/arts-and-culture/our-collections/tyler-collection/nicen-easy