In today's society, many people lose contact with where they came from. But one photographer is on a mission to expose the Czech communities in Nebraska that still have a strong sense of their ethnic heritage.
Jean Lewis' black-and-white photographic exhibit "Czech Memories, Ethnicity, and History Preserved in the Built Environment" will be showcased at the Great Plains Museum, March 5 through April 18.
"When we live in cities, we lose connection with other people," Lewis said. "But many of these Czech communities seem to stick together and remain connected."
Czech immigration is not unique to Nebraska, with another large concentration in Wisconsin and Minnesota.
"This body of work is about the Czech immigration into four counties in Nebraska and the remnants of their culture," she said, "They still have a very strong community even today."
Even though Lewis hails from a primarily German background, she was drawn to the sense of community that still exists in many Nebraskan Czech communities.
She unintentionally stumbled upon the rich culture and traditions when she was working on her true photographic passion: cemeteries. There was something special about the Czech cemeteries that stood out to her and she thought might translate over to the communities themselves, she said.
"The Czech cemeteries were always pristine and well kept," said Lewis. "I know a lot of older people that do not know much about the cemeteries, but it seems that a lot of these older Czech people know the histories.
"They really stay connected to their community and culture. They have relatives that still know Czech and have rich stories about their culture."
What remains in these intact communities are a few remnants of superstition, too.
"I had one interesting encounter with a woman in a Wilber cemetery," Lewis said. "She told me about a particular cemetery that was so old that during the diphtheria in the late 1880s so many young children had died that they buried them with little or no markers.
"The woman said that you could go there and locate graves that were unmarked, which are everywhere. It is called witching or dowsing. I don't know if I believe all that, but it was interesting." Dowsing was a way to locate objects underground without using any type of scientific device, a practice dating back to 15th century Germany, Czechoslovakia's neighbor at the time.
Over the years, Lewis has photographed dozens of churches, cemeteries, grottoes and buildings. She showcases these photos on her Web site JeanLewisPhotography.net, but this particular journey culminated this past year.
"This journey took me about six years altogether, but the last year really encouraged me to put together a Czech exhibit," Lewis said.
Determined to capture the spirit of Czech ethnicity as expressed through the built environment, Lewis set out on her mission.
Lewis' culture-celebrating works will fittingly showcase at the Great Plains Museum, which collects art that represents the Great Plains or an artist's experience with the Great Plains, said assistant curator and collections manager Susan Curtis. Curtis is no stranger to the cultural richness that Lewis explores in her works.
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