Someone you recognize and someone you don’t. Someone who lives in the spotlight and someone who doesn’t — Hollywood A-listers posing with Holocaust survivors. 

That was the premise fashion photographer Bryce Thompson conjured up in an effort to amplify the stories of the last living generation of Holocaust survivors. The idea was initially fueled by antisemitism that Thompson, who is not Jewish, saw his friends, neighbors and mother, who converted to Judaism, facing in recent years. But the project — which took three years to complete — assumed even greater relevance after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks, the ensuing war in Gaza and the record high levels of anti-Jewish incidents in the U.S. that followed. 

A new collection of photographs shot by Thompson, called “Borrowed Spotlight,” debuted on Tuesday to coincide with Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, with the release of a coffee-table book and weeklong exhibition at Detour Gallery in Manhattan. It features Hollywood heavyweights including Cindy Crawford, Jennifer Garner and Chelsea Handler.

With years of experience photographing high-profile shoots for publications including GQ, ELLE and Glamour, Thompson initially expected that the photos would speak for themselves. But he told Jewish Insider that the most impactful moments were the ones between shots. “Those were the moments they interacted the most,” he said of his photography subjects. 

“The moments off-camera that were not being photographed, those are the best moments,” Thompson continued. “That’s what started the conversation piece of ‘please tell us your story.’” Ultimately, ‘Borrowed Spotlight’ “turned into an interview with a Holocaust survivor and a celebrity, less than a portrait series.” 

Alongside portraits, mostly candid, the book quotes dozens of comments survivors made in casual conversation with the celebrities they were matched with. Among them was one made by Holocaust survivor and philanthropist Elizabeth Wilf, who was paired with David Schwimmer: “My grandchildren are my revenge, I guess,” Wilf told the “Friends” actor.  

“It became me listening and photographing the moments between people sharing their life stories,” Thompson said. “That really kicked off momentum for us. It was hard to walk away from those shoots and not be so emotionally moved that you want to dive right into the next one.” 

Initially, Thompson tried to pair survivors with celebrities who had common traits or roots, such as a shared country of birth. “But we found that no matter which celebrity we paired with which survivor, they always had common ground even if they were from different places. We’ve all got something in common with a survivor. The conversations flowed much easier than if we tried to curate it.” 

Supermodel Cindy Crawford said in a statement that when she was asked to participate in the book, “It was an instant yes.”

“I’ve always believed in being part of the solution, not the problem,” Crawford said. “The opportunity to meet and converse with a Holocaust survivor felt deeply meaningful.”

Several of the famous participants, including Scooter Braun and Sheryl Sandberg, frequently use their platforms to condemn rising antisemitism. 

But not all of the celebrities approached were so eager to participate; some feared it could hurt their careers to speak out against antisemitism so publicly — especially in the aftermath of Oct. 7. “That was sad to see,” Thompson said. “We’re in an industry where cancel culture is prevalent.”

He added that after Hamas’ attack in Israel and amid the war in Gaza “a lot of our yeses turned into maybes turned into nos because people don’t want to take political sides.” 

“But our message was clear,” Thompson continued, “we started this project before Oct. 7 as a Holocaust awareness project.” 

Thompson told JI that while “Borrowed Spotlight” won’t be an annual project — “that’s ambitious,” he said, “this one took almost three years” — he’s “happy to keep the project alive as long as it’s needed, whether it’s going to Israel to see the survivors of Oct. 7 from the Nova festival or anywhere else we can go to bring awareness.” 

Proceeds from book sales will support campaigns to educate younger generations about the Holocaust, according to the organizers. Proceeds from a private auction of select prints will benefit two organizations dedicated to Holocaust remembrance and survivor support: Selfhelp, which provides services and assistance to living Holocaust survivors in New York, and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. 

The collection’s opening photograph, which did not include a celebrity, was already auctioned this week, going for $20,000. It displays the arm of survivor Joseph Alexander tattooed with a number from his time as an Auschwitz prisoner.