Originally, B70 Internment Camp about 25 miles outside Fredericton was home to German and Austrian Jews who fled the Nazis during the Second World War; later, becoming a prisoner-of-war camp. “Escape” presents a collection of artworks that explore the metaphorical escape from the painful reminders of internment behind barbed wire, as well as appreciating the incredible artistic talent, creativity, and resourcefulness of these internees. By exploring the drawn, the painted, and the crafted items by many of these prisoners, the exhibition grapples with the memory and memorialization of a difficult and sometimes uncomfortable aspect of Canadian heritage that involved the unjust internment of civilians, including Jews escaping Nazi oppression and many Canadians with only tenuous ties to Axis nations.
Curated by Todd Caissie and organized by the Beaverbrook Art Gallery.