Family Portrait Series: Cracks

Artist’s Statement: The top half of this piece is my acrylic painting, juxtaposed with an original photograph from the 1800s of my great-great-grandparents with two of their eight children. There is a crack in the piece metaphorically representing the duality of the immigrant experience. This family migrated from Austria-Hungary to London to the Lower East Side, fleeing pogroms, leaving their families behind. My family completely assimilated into American culture. I juxtaposed my colorful, modern painting with the original black-and-white photograph, to show the divide between my American identity and my Eastern-European roots. This is part of an audiovisual narrative inspired by memories in my family history.