By Christina Martin

On the day before the 70th anniversary of the Spanish Civil War bombing at Guernica, senior students Matthew Ferry and Michael LaFemina commemorated the event with the opening of an exhibit entitled, “Opening Windows to Gernika.”

The exhibit opened Wednesday with a ceremony in which keynote speaker, Sally Charnow, associate professor of history, spoke on history, memory and remembrance in conjunction with the importance of the multimedia exhibit. After Ferry and LaFemina spoke briefly about the exhibit, there was a live performance of “The Guernica Trio,” a piano trio for cello and violin written by Octavio Vazquez.

On display at the event was a painting by University student Patrick Anglin, entitled, “My Guernica,” which will remain on display on the 10th floor of the Axinn Library until May 21.

The multimedia exhibit was originally created as a final project for Charnow’s honors seminar, “History and Memory in the 20th Century.” Ferry and LaFemina took the course last semester and were instructed to create a virtual memorial of a 20th century event that took place in European history.

The students chose to create their memorial on the bombing at Guernica after being inspired by the Picasso painting depicting the Spanish massacre. “Both Michael and I were truly inspired by the class and by the concepts that we were taught. It helped us to discover some inspiration inside of us,” Ferry said.

During his introduction to the exhibit, Ferry said he and LaFemina started joking about going to Spain to interview people who survived the bombing. “I definitely thought that going to Spain and actually becoming integrated or invested in one’s work is something that is often left out of the educational world.” The joke became a reality when the students submitted a proposal to the University Honors College and the Hofstra Museum, and were granted funding to go to Spain to conduct research. This is the first time that the University has ever provided funding for research done by undergraduate students.

“We wanted to show the Hofstra community that students are capable of doing professional work and that we deserve the financial support to be creative,” LaFemina said. “Honors College and the Hofstra Museum were generous enough to give us that opportunity.”

Ferry and LaFemina spent six days in Spain, where they interviewed survivors of the1937 bombing, Spanish Civil War veterans, current residents of Guernica and visitors. According to them, the interviews with survivors were difficult to obtain, because many of the people they met on the street would not go on record to talk.

The students learned that this was because there still remained a fear of imposed silence brought on by the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, who ruled Spain from 1939 until his death in 1975. The exhibit displayed the increasing willingness to open up as the students continued their interviews.

The interactive, “Opening Windows to Guernica,” can be found on the first floor of Axinn Library.