This is a self-directed piece of my great-great-grandmother and what would be her immigration card if she had made it to America. I prepared for this piece by going through old family photos to find information on her past. I discovered that she died in a concentration camp in Germany during WW2 and wanted to create a piece depicting the possibility that she escaped. I started by using photoshop to lay out how I wanted the painting to look. I used acrylic for the background and oil for the subject. For the background, I first did the green pattern, then the red watermark on top of that, and finally the text on top of that. I copied her signature from an old document and tried an embroidery technique for the first time. I melted her face to show the distortion of reality. I chose to sew her name because I wanted it to be like someone was rewriting her story and creating a new narrative. I made this piece to discover more about my family’s past because it means a great deal to me.
