Dwell Time

A Memoir of Art, Exile, and Repair

By: Rosa Lowinger

Narrated by: Rosa Lowinger

What Kirkus describes as a "masterful revelation about life and art imitating each other in maintenance and repair" in a starred review, Dwell Time is an illuminating debut memoir by one of the few prominent Latinas in the field of art and architectural conservation; a moving portrait of a Cuban Jewish family’s intergenerational trauma; and a story about repair and healing that will forever change how you see the objects and places we cherish and how we manage damage and loss.

Renowned art conservator Rosa Lowinger spent a difficult childhood in Miami among people whose losses in the Cuban revolution, and earlier by the decimation of family in the Holocaust, clouded all family life.

After moving away to escape the “cloying exile’s nostalgia,” Lowinger discovered the unique field of art conservation, which led her to work in Tel Aviv, Philadelphia, Rome, Los Angeles, Honolulu, Charleston, Marfa, South Dakota, and Port-Au-Prince. Eventually returning to Havana for work, Lowinger suddenly finds herself embarking on a remarkable journey of family repair that begins, as it does in conservation, with an understanding of the origins of damage.

Inspired by and structured similarly to Primo Levi’s The Periodic Table, this first memoir by a working art conservator is organized by chapters based on the materials Lowinger handles in her thriving private practice–Marble, Limestone, Bronze, Ceramics, Concrete, Silver, Wood, Mosaic, Paint, Aluminum, Terrazzo, Steel, Glass and Plastics. Through Lowinger’s relentless clear-eyed efforts to be the best practitioner possible while squarely facing her fraught personal and work relationships, she comes to terms with her identity as Cuban and Jewish, American and Latinx.

©2023 Rosa Lowinger (P)2023 Row House by Spotify Audiobooks

Great story of family history from Eastern Europe to Cuba to the United States and the relationships within the family.

I really enjoyed learning about the family history. The detailed descriptions of the restoration processes to me were boring, but I did appreciate some of the metaphors to life. Overall there was more than enough of the narrative of the relationships in the family, and so many interesting events, and family discoveries, that this book was definitely worth reading!

Depth, honesty, fascination

Rosa Is A generous storyteller. And a great writer. If your interests span art, Cuba, And Jews, You will not be disappointed.

How a traumatized daughter was able to forgive her mother.

The story was like a tapestry. It was a woven fabric between an artist and family. I could almost see through the threads, walk alongside the author, as I followed the beauty of her own redemption.