2019 Prompt: Base your submission on the testimony of a local, Wisconsin Holocaust survivor. Students who have had the opportunity to hear from or interview a Holocaust survivor in person may respond to that experience instead.
Dylan Nolte, 8th grader at Longfellow Middle School
Artist Statement: “The Seamstress” was inspired by the testimony of Holocaust survivor Sarah Federman. Sarah said she survived the Holocaust and the killing of her son because it was her responsibility to keep his memory alive. Her survival was an act of rebellion. So is this art piece. It depicts Sarah sewing, because when she lived in the ghetto prior to being sent to Auschwitz she was forced to sew Nazi uniforms. You see those watching over her shoulder. She is rebelling in the piece by sewing a blue baby blanket. This blanket represents her son’s memory, and what she really should have been sewing instead of Nazi uniforms. This piece is printed in a style inspired by 1940’s German Expressionism. To make the piece, I first compiled and layered images in Photoshop to bring what I was imagining into an actual picture. I then made the image highly contrasted to only black and white. When the final image was completed, I hand carved that image into linoleum to create a template for printing. Finally, I used India Ink on the template to print the final piece on special printing paper and used oil pastel to hand color the blue baby blanket.