UPSTAIRS at Windermere Library is an exhibition that we should all try to spare a moment or two to visit.

No chocolate box images or vibrant and colourful paintings here but art doing one of the things art does best - be thought provoking.

Breath Becomes Air is not an easy one to take in; it is the second in a programme of exhibitions under the Holocaust and Memory Reframed title, located in the Lake District Holocaust Project's (LDHP) first floor space at the library.

Created by Ian Walton, its an installation that reflects the Ambleside artist's response to the atmosphere and emotions he experienced when he visited Theresienstadt (Terezin), Auschwitz Birkenau and Budapest.

Theresienstadt, which is north west of Prague, was a mass extermination camp for Jews and set-up in 1942. Auschwitz Birkenau was the largest German Nazi extermination camp, established in Poland in 1940.

The Budapest ghetto was run by Arrow Cross, an extreme national socialist party which controlled the Hungarian government from October 1944 until March 1945, supported by Nazi Germany.

Trevor Avery's Lake District Holocaust Project has been working since 2005 to commemorate the connection between 300 child Holocaust survivors who were rehabilitated in August, 1945 at Calgarth, Troutbeck Bridge, near Windermere.

Many of the children had passed through Auschwitz before being finally liberated from Theresienstadt.

And apparently Ian paid his visits to Theresienstadt, Auschwitz Birkenau and Budapest, parallel to the time LDHP was emerging in Windermere.

Ian is one of the heavyweights of the Cumbrian arts world.

He excels at capturing the emotion that a place or time elicits and in Breath Becomes Air shines a little light on some of the darkest days in world history.

I'm not quite sure what ingredient it is that Ian's work contains that connects so powerfully. But his art digs deep and punches hard.

Among the pieces in his Breath Becomes Air installation is Eternal Leaving, which deftly touches the soul; it frames a collage and children's drawings that were discovered after the war hidden in a suitcase at Theresienstadt.

Within are photographs too, faint and faded but not lost entirely, the faces calling from the past.

One of the most unsettling parts to the Breath Becomes Air are the shoes resting on a mirror on the window sill. Three pairs of adult shoes; three children's, one of which is a pair of clogs.

Explains Ian: "My use of shoes refers back to discovering this history of Budapest, but also has a parallel which can be seen in our immediate news today: amidst all the tragedies worldwide - either a natural disaster or through war and conflict are the innocent casualties. The images we see in the current press or the television news frequently focus on abandoned personal belongings, often a shoe, left behind as people flee for their lives. Each shoe comes to symbolise the human loss."

Brought up in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Ian taught and lectured in secondary schools and colleges here and abroad, moving his family to the Lakes in 1989.

He says at school he didn't really engage with history lessons, but down the years as he visited countries and cities steeped in history, he found his fascination increased: "Particularly over the past decade or so when I have been drawn to visit places such as Krakow, Budapest and Prague - places which witnessed great turmoil, sorrow and extreme conditions during World War Two.

"The first trip to Krakow had a profound effect on me, particularly relating to my experiences visiting Auschwitz Birkenau. When I returned home I began to work on paintings and collages linked to my experiences and also began further research and reading about the cities and the people who lived during that tumultuous time in history. Other trips to Prague and Budapest followed and as I learnt and saw more of the places I began to create more work."

Ian's An Aura of Existence is a reference to the Arrow Cross militia.

"There's a moving memorial by the Parliament building in Budapest, situated along the river bank, consisting of a long row of iron shoes by artists Gyula Pauer and Can Togay, which cannot fail to create an impact when seen first hand," describes Ian. "It refers to the activities of the Arrow Cross. During its short rule many thousands of Hungarians suffered brutal treatment or were deported to their death.

"The installation commemorates the men, women and children who were marched to the banks of the Danube. They were ordered to first remove their shoes and were then shot, allowing their bodies to fall into the river and be carried away."

Footprints embedded by Ian in Aura's mixed media of soil, oil and acrylic with copper and leather, cut a stark and chilling reminder.

Breath Becomes Air also features a narrative soundscape cleverly created by Mike Webster, which adds a tension to the room.

Take time to ponder on what you see, particularly absorbing the section of wall lined with with a series of distressed mirrors and light bulbs with photographs on acetate, which Ian says links to his visit to Theresienstadt (Terezin). Ian points out that the extermination camp was also used for propaganda purposes: "In June 1944 the Germans allowed representatives from the Danish and International Red Cross to visit and inspect the camp. New washing facilities such as sinks and mirrors were installed as part of the deception of normality. There was no running water, so they were left in pristine condition and never used. Once the visit was over, camp conditions reverted back and deportations to concentration camps resumed. It was an elaborate hoax. Seeing the washroom in Terezin, with mirrors uniformly lining the deserted space, just reflecting the emptiness, was particularly poignant and left a lasting, haunting impression."

Breath Becomes Air runs until October 29.