Project 2: Political Statement Piece

For this project, the political issue I chose was Anti-semitism. This issue is directly related to me, being the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor. Anti-semitism is still such a prominent issue today all around the world and there are frequent occasions where this is made public. According to the ADL (Anti-Defamation League), there have been 1,879 anti-semitic incidents across the country in 2018. This trend continued into 2019 where many other incidents have been publicized. The amount of incidents has increased by 27% between 2017-2018. One incident that really hit close to home was the vandalism of a Jewish synagogue in Irvine, California. The words "Fuck Jews" and a swastika were spray painted in red paint on the outside of the temple. This synagogue is very close to Chapman and occurred this year. These hate crimes have not stopped and do not look like they are stopping any time soon. For my project, I wanted to express this by combining both incidents of the past and incidents that happened this year. I decided to do a realistic portrait of Ed Mosberg, a Holocaust survivor that still wears his white and blue striped uniform every year on Holocaust Remembrance Day. He wears his original number that was given to him in the concentration camp, and says that everyday is Holocaust day for him. I had the honor of hearing the 92 year-old survivor speak in front of 15,000+ people inside Auschwitz-Birkenau. I found him to be so inspiring and will always remember the chills I got as I saw him walk on stage in his uniform. I decided to place him in front of the Irvine synagogue that was vandalized this year to contrast what occurred in 1945 with what still occurs in 2019. I drew him wearing his uniform and included his number, as well as copying the exact vandalism that was spotted on the temple walls. To sum up my message, I included the question, "When will it end?" I thought this perfectly sums up my statement because this is an issue that has been going on for years, and we have yet to see a stop in these hate crimes. I feel that this was one of my stronger pieces that I have created, and am very proud to bring attention to this political issue.

https://nypost.com/2018/01/20/why-this-holocaust-survivor-still-wears-his-concentration-camp-uniform/