painting a grim picture, 2022
During World War II, over 76,000 Jewish people were rounded up and deported from France to extermination camps. Among them 1,400 children, often separated from their parents, were piled onto freight wagons, transported to Poland and murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
In Painting a Grim Picture, 30 children, aged from 2 to 12, all born in Paris, France, are memorialised in a vintage paint box. Their tragic lives were cut short so there was no time to enjoy the simple pleasures of childhood such as colouring and painting pictures. These innocent children were among 507 boys, girls and toddlers who were on Transport 22, Train 901/17. They were sent directly to Auschwitz after suffering a most distressing journey. They were gassed immediately upon arrival. There are no photographs to remember them by. May their souls rest in peace.
Transport 22’s journey from France, through Germany and into Poland, has been hand stitched with red silk thread
Measurement: 23cm x 24cm x 18cm
Process: Hand stitch
Materials: Vintage watercolour paint box, 1935 vintage map, paintbrushes, cotton, silk thread
Exhibited in:
Fabricated? Solo Exhibition, London, England (1 October 2024 - 31 January 2025)
COMMENTS
Your inventive creativity and sideways thinking continue to inspire... such an important series of works
Brilliant piece of artwork but desperately sad
Another masterpiece!
Love the way you portray the stories of these forgotten children
It’s the simplest things in life that we take for granted. Remembering these little children with a grateful heart for the health of my own
Heartbreakingly sad. How could this happen?