Summary

Digital photograph of Ernest Martin Haurwitz with his children Ede and Steven Horton, at Cotter Dam picnic ground, Canberra, 1959.

Ede's parents came to Australia separately after World War II and met in Sydney in 1950. Her father fled as a young man from the Nazi regime in Germany to the Phillipines which was invaded by the Japanese, and he spent a year hiding in the highlands before the Americans arrived at the end of the war. Her mother left the Czech Republic for London where she worked as a cleaner till her English was acceptable, and then she became a translator for the British airforce at Bletchley.

Ede Horton is a glass artist who was born in Sydney, her mother Czechoslovakian and father German, both survivors of the Holocaust in Europe. Ede's Jewish heritage is central to her identity and has worked from her studio in Melbourne since 1981. She is inspired to both celebrate and reinterpret Jewish ritual practices through her glass creations. The Havdalah ceremony represented by this artwork incorporates candles, spices, wine and prayer to welcome in the new week.

A video of Ede reflecting on her work (and handling this set) can be viewed on the Immigration Museum Identity exhibition website: https://museumsvictoria.com.au/immigrationmuseum/resources/identity/people-like-me/

Description of Content

Man sitting on lawn holding two children

Physical Description

Black and white digital photograph

Significance

Jewish glass artist Ede Horton has a local and national profile and her work makes a significant contribution to representation of Jewish migration, culture and identity in the Museums's collection, engaging with traditional Jewish cultural traditions through a contemporary Australian lens.

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