In times of plenty, it can be difficult to appreciate what is important. In daily life, we often take for granted seemingly mundane items such as footwear, a glass of water, warmth, and even friendship.
For those fortunate, these items and relations are abundant. And yet, to be without such things can cause great suffering or even be a death sentence.
In Samuel Bak’s Most Importantly we are presented with a field of greens, browns, and yellows. Boxes, some opened, some still sealed, dot the landscape. In the background, boxes are being investigated. In the middle ground, the shape of a box evokes the Star of David; a string around it forms an “X.” In the foreground, appear two men. One is inside the box, holding a shoe. The second man, kneeling outside the box, is shoeless; with his body nearly merging with the natural environment, he points at that which he does not have.
Are there enough shoes to go around? How have these everyday items become so necessary in this scene? Most importantly, will help be offered to those who are without?
Dr. Mark Celinscak, Department of History, University of Nebraska at Omaha,
BAK a Day, December 7, 2022
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Boxed in.
Yaacov in a box. A shoe in hand is better than ????
A remarkable and an improbable scene.
A beach littered with boxes.
A figure holding a shoe/ boot afloat and considering its presence and meaning.
Primo Levi's Reawakening comes to mind and the critical importance of a pair of shoes for one's survival. Without shoes one does not have a chance to survive.
His immediate associate is also preoccupied by the shoe of survival. It also seems that others are discovering objects off into the distance...Most importantly.
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