IMMIGRANT - 2021

Materials: Gel transfer collage with color digitally manipulated and printed on fabric with added details in ink.

Size: 8.5”x11”

This was inspired by old studio photos of my father and grandparents who’d only recently immigrated from Eastern Europe to Philadelphia. The challenges of current immigration being foremost in our media I have thought about my family’s immigration in 1925 and how their lives as Americans developed. I was struck by how prosperous they looked. Gone by the time I was born, my impression had been they must have quickly somehow climbed into the upper classes. But their reality was that my grandfather was an upholsterer and my grandmother was a seamstress who made his finely tailored suit, her beaded dress and my toddler father’s velvet suit. While only shortly before they had been persecuted Jews in The Pale of Settlement, here in the US they could use their skills to present themselves as successful Americans in these special photos. When in fact they lived their daily life as part of the Jewish working class.

I’ve always imagined it must have been amazing to take that long voyage in steerage and then finally come up to see The Statue of Liberty and feel fresh air blowing on their faces so I included some images of her. The foundational organizing compositional element is a ground plan of Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia (my father being a typical American boy loved baseball) . Then on top of all the other images I drew a contour of the states in ink. The rusted key is also printed on the fabric.