May 3–June 9, 2013
a Far From Home exhibition
I am a third generation Holocaust survivor. It has been an integral part of my life. My family is Jewish and I was raised with a close affiliation with the religion.
My grandparents started their own tailoring and dry-cleaning business … and I have very clear and fond memories of visiting “The Shop” on a given Sunday afternoon. I can still see the countless spools of thread on the wall and the boxes full, of what seemed to be, millions of buttons. I can hear my Papa Nathan mumbling in a convoluted mixture of Yiddish, Polish and scattered bits of English. He emerged from the War alone and sad, without a single remaining family member to his name.
… I have paralleled memories of my grandparents’ shop with its many piles of thread, buttons and clothing to the piles of hair, shoes and bodies from the Holocaust. Through my art I am attempting to emulate the struggles of those who experienced the Holocaust, and my own struggles as a Third Generation Holocaust survivor.