Cleveland!

I presented at the OHA Conference on Creative Collaborations Between Oral Historians and Museums, focusing on my work with the Tenement Museum and the Whitney Museum.

PANEL:  ”Masters of Oral History: Columbia University OHMA Students Using Oral History.”

Cleveland Marriott at Key Center, Salon C, October 13, 8:30-10am

I particularly liked the theme of the conference this year
“Sing It Out, Shout It Out, Say It Out Loud: Giving Voice through Oral History”  focusing on the transformation of oral histories into other forms.

From top left, clockwise: Beverley Hagaman, William M. Corbett, Joseph Karp, Helen Klass, Joan Davis, Libby Lesher, Alan McElroy, Charles K. Emma. From Seniors Partnering With Artists Citywide project, sponsored by the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs.

Sample from this Project

My ongoing work with the Whitney Museum, facilitating conversations and conducting oral histories in the Meatpacking District, was featured in the Whitney Museum Education Blog.

Participating senior Charles Emma shows plans from his work as an engineer

Collaborating with director Julie Kline in an LMCC granted “Seniors Partnering with Artists Citywide” performance project.

What: Seniors and the City: Stories of New York

When: Residency is four months. Performances will be held Friday, June 15 at 7pm & Saturday, June 16 at 2pm

Where: Senior Center at Saint Peter’s Church
619 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10022

A brief piece about the weird and wacky humor of a NYC paramedic, James Dobson.

Credits

Interview: Repurposed sound from an oral history conducted by Gerry Albarelli for the 9/11 Oral History Project at Columbia University.
Produced by Sarah Loose and Liza Zapol, for Radio Off the Dial.

Quote

Sometimes we tell our humor and people don’t get it. They’re like, “That ain’t too funny.” And to us it’s funny.

My Multimedia Project, September 11, 2011 at The Metropolitan Museum, was featured on the homepage of The Metropolitan Museum website for over a week, a site which gets 40,000,000 visitors a year!

Here’s what the website says:

Zapol’s film reveals the role of the Museum as a place for individuals to remember, to contemplate, to seek meaning and solace in works of art, and, ultimately, to come together.

Watch the piece by clicking here

At the Metropolitan Museum November 15, 2011 until January 22, 2012.

Opposite the 9/11 Peace Story Quilts, in the Uris Education Center

Memories of September 11, 2001, ten years later.
Interviews with visitors, educators, artist Faith Ringgold, and young artists.
Exploration of The 9/11 Peace Story Quilt (created by Faith Ringgold and the InterRelations Collaborative).

Credits

Direction & Interviews: Liza Zapol
Photography: Amanda Kowalski
Commissioned by: The Metropolitan Museum, New York City, 2011.

Quote

“The children came up with… something that was so beautiful and peaceful, out of something that was so ugly and violent.”
—Faith Ringgold

Isak Schachter, 2011

As Epstein Oral History Fellow with the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, I interviewed several Holocaust survivors who lived, or still live in the Lower East Side after emigrating to the United States. These oral histories are full of rich stories of how the survivors adjusted to their new homes, as well as how they were received in America.

Here, Isak Schachter remembers his first visit to Central Park.

Created in Affiliation with the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, 2011.

This interview is excerpted from one of several interviews for this project.

The Paley Brothers. My Great Grandfather is Nicholas Paley. Mustache, no beard.

Orchard Street Scene, ~1917

Streit's Matzo Factory in the 1950s

Streit's Matzo Factory in the 1950s

Streit's Matzo Factory in 2011, on Rivington Street

Harris Levy ancestors, family

Economy Candy Sign, 2011

One Minute Excerpt

The Streit’s Matzo Factory has been in the New York’s Lower East Side since 1925. The entire matzo process, from flour to boxed cracker, takes less than 18 minutes, and the mixing and baking covers five floors and four tenement buildings on Rivington Street. Listen to an interview with Aaron Gross, the fifth generation of the Matzo making family.

This is an excerpt from an Audio Documentary about the history of Jewish businesses in the Lower East Side. I conducted in depth interviews with Streit’s Matzo, Economy Candy, and Harris Levy Linens.

Created in Affiliation with the upcoming exhibit “Shop Life” at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, 2011. This served as my thesis project for my Master’s Degree in Oral History from Columbia University.

Listen

The full one hour audio documentary.

Part 1: History and Memory of the Lower East Side

Part 2: Streit’s Matzo

Part 3: Harris Levy Linens

Part 4: Economy Candy and Conclusion

Credits

Oral History Interviews: Aaron Gross, Alan Adler, Walter Hernandez, Jerry Cohen, Mitchell Cohen, Bill Levy, Lorraine Levy
Historians: Suzanne Wasserman and Hasia Diner
Advisors: Suzanne Wasserman, Ruksana Susswell, David Favaloro

Links

Broadcaster

Transcript

The annotated transcript (Columbia Master’s Thesis in Oral History)
Download Transcript

Quote

She was a Jewish lady, and she used to say “Hey, what are you looking for?” and then she’d say “here, come here, come here!” and then she’d go and grab you, she used to grab you by the arm and she used to bring you into the store. And then her husband used to be [inside] the store, and she used to “Look, look!” and she’d show you the t-shirts and everything. I used to love it.
–Walter Hernandez

True Body Project

Created a mother’s day performance drawn from Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party and interviews with over 200 women in New York.

Credits

Produced by: Stacy Sims and Cameron Anderson, The True Body Project
Created by: Liza Zapol, Cameron Anderson, Maria Portman Kelly, Ilyana Kadushin
Performed by: Caroline Cho, Dawn Eshelman, Noni Fernandez, Rajeeyah Finnie, Ilyana Kadushin, Maria Portman Kelly, Marie Marsham, Elka Rodriguez, Aparna Reddy-Sargent, and Liza Zapol
Photography: Gili Getz
Commissioned by: The Brooklyn Museum of Art, The True Body Project

Quote

“I hunger for something that can’t crave my appetite!”