It is noteworthy that for $250-300 then ($4000-5000 in today’s money) they could all have reached safety in Cuba or Bolivia, but they were penniless by then and could not raise the funds. The five children survived the War and where re-united in London late in 1945. The older three died in their 80s and 90s, the two youngest are still alive and well and now living in Jerusalem, Israel. I have been working with this material for some years in an ongoing Holocaust Remembrance Art Project.
Book:
I have had all the letters and postcards translated, and in 2010 I produced a book containing the transcriptions and translations, some photos, background material and glossary. Yad Vashem holds two copies of “Letters from my Grandparents”.
Installation 1: 200 Masks:
I have created an installation out of copies of the original letters. I have reversed the black and white, and created some 200 life-sized paper masks, based on the faces of my son and my daughter, to represent their great grandfather and great grandmother. The masks can be fixed on the wall, and/or suspended from the ceiling.
Installation 2: Laid Table:
I have completed a second installation piece, a table set with plates bearing photographs from the 1930s, and a tablecloth printed with texts drawn from the letters in Hebrew, English and the original German, and bearing a related hand-made ceramic book.
Installation 3: Two Kinder
This installation piece consists of two life-size models of small girls, “kinder”, dressed in clothes bearing copies of some of the original letters.
Video Art:
My project includes a short video: “One Man’s Journey”.
Other Sculptures:
I have also made several sculptures. One of these is a tall mixed media piece ‘Grandfather Samuel’; another is a small floor sculpture ‘Grandmother’s Bones’. In addition, I have created some relevant ceramic pieces: e.g. ‘Esther’s Suitcase’, and small bronzes ‘Yizkor’ and ‘My Grandparents 1941’.
Drawings:
4 small drawings are incorporated into the project.
Sound Work:
The installation includes a man’s and a woman’s voice (representing my grandparents, who did most of the writing), quoting from the letters in German, Hebrew, French and English.
Screenprints:
As the 2012 guest artist at the Jerusalem Print Workshop (www.jerusalemprintworkshop.org) I completed a set of 8 silk screens based on the letters.
Illustrated Poem:
The project includes one of my poems, “Migrating” which I have illuminated in water colour.
The Letters remain a source of inspiration for me.
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