A Grandmother’s Apron and the Holocaust

Abstract

This book beautifully presents Golden Hands, a series of drawings, originally made in pencil and graphite, that explore Rachel Feferman’s deep feeling for her grandmother, a Jewish immigrant from Poland. Although her grandmother escaped the Holocaust, delicate and tender images of her grandmother, as well as objects associated with her, are intermingled in the artist’s psyche and drawings with images of bodies and barbed wire. These drawings express the undercurrent of wounding caused by human atrocities, even for those who are not obviously affected. Included are carefully selected passages describing the artist’s creative process, as well as dreams, imagination, and reflections relevant to the creation of this series.

Key Words:

• artist’s process
• concentration camp
• dream
• ethnic cleansing
• Gilde Manz
• Golden Hands
• grandmother
• Holocaust
• Jew
• seamstress
• skin