ART 2022-2026
This painting is about my mother's friendships.
My mother was born in Bauska, Latvia, in 2024.
Since she had to escape the Nazis in the summer of 1941, there are only 2 photos that survived, but these are photos with a story. The first one is a passport size photo of a girl. There is a Hebrew text on the back -
To my dear friend Rivka, so she remembers me forever, from your friend Sara.
September 22, 1938, Riga
September 22 was my mom's birthday. She turned 14 (or 15) on that day.
Thie text and parts of it appear a few times in the painting.
However, the photo itself is not there. Instead, I used another passport-size photo, of my mom, Rivka, the only other picture that survived the war. I used it to paint the larger portrait of the girl on the left.
Next, I chose another old photo of my mom’s friendship.
This one was taken after WW2, and I am not sure exactly when, but probably in the late 1940's- early 1950's.
A lot happened to Rivka during those in-between years.
This one presents a cute, staged composition of 2 women and a young girl on a bridge in the spring, in flowery dresses, happy and relaxed.
Their arms are weaved together like in a dance.
One is shy, but pleased, the other one bold and outgoing, and the youngest one is really focused on making it look right.
Friendships frozen in time.
And I feel lucky to have a chance to hold these photos in my hands and to be able to take them on my own artistic journey, right here, right now, in Chicago, USA, in the year of 2025.
