B E L O V E D : U N F I N I S H E D L I V E S
After completing Beloved: Children of the Holocaust in 2017, I ran across a small number of photographs taken in the Warsaw Ghetto around 1942. I was so deeply moved by these images that I felt compelled to draw them. I began with the man playing the violin and when I reached a certain point, I suddenly felt that I was finished. My faint pencil sketch was visible, and I realized that somehow the unfinished part of the drawing represented his unfinished life. I completed five of the images, and near the end, I realized that what moved me so deeply was the dignity of the unknown individuals. In the midst of unspeakable horror, they held fast to their humanity. They continued to play, and pray, and love. Ultimately, they could be robbed of their lives, but not of their souls. And thus I named each of the drawings, “And Still I ...”
Thank you, beloved – May you be an example to us all.