|
| I back I |
| I created a book called Deutsch Stunde, that contains all of my paintings of my classmates. It also includes photographs and a flip book. The following statement is a forward to the book. FOWARD Arrival in Germany. Back in New York City, I was a graphics illustrator
in the maps and charts department of a publishing company. From my desk
on the 17th floor in Manhattan, I daydreamed about my move to Germany.
I would be fearless and adventurous! In reality, it was dark, cold and
snowing and I did not feel like leaving the house. Jurij insisted that
I enroll in a German language course at the local Volkshochschule, which
is the “peoples high school” or local community college. My first day of class, with much angst, I took the tram and poorly navigated my way to school. Due to bad weather, public transit wasn’t running properly and the 20-minute ride took me 2 hours. I arrived late, disheveled, sweaty and without the proper schoolbooks. The teacher spoke only in Deutsch and I was totally lost. Two weeks went by before I understood the word “Hausaufgaben”. But then again “homework” was never a word that I had really ever understood! Although the teachers did not condone speakers
of the same language from conversing with each other in anything other
than Deutsch, I became fast friends with English speakers: Marcelo of
Texas, Leticia of Brazil and Samuel of Nepal. It was a relief to have
friends again. Class was every morning Monday to Friday from 8:30-11:30am. I am by no means a morning person but my sanity was saved because I had a reason to get up every morning. Next I needed a purpose and I desperately needed to create. Almost every day before coming to Germany, I had immersed myself in the study of portraiture. Having not painted in months I was going through withdrawal. Finding a Purpose In school, I was seated at one end of a semi-circle
and had an unobstructed view of all my classmates’ faces. I marveled
at the diversity of colors and shapes, expressions, personality and histories.
What brought us from all corners of the earth to this German language
class here in Augsburg, Germany? I had not expected to find so many different
nationalities in my class let alone in Augsburg or Germany in general. I had expected a sea of tall pale blonds with
blue eyes not unlike my Prussian boyfriend. I don’t know who I imagined
I would be sitting in class with perhaps a few Turks. I did after all
enjoy a couple (or maybe more) Döner kebabs on my wanderings around
town. I was happily surprised to be sitting next to Brazil, Equator, Korea,
China, Japan, Indonesia, Congo, Somalia, Georgia, Russia, Romania, Sweden,
Finland, Tunisia, Spain, Switzerland, Australia, Nepal, Ukraine, Italy,
Iran, Thailand and Turkey to name a few. The diversity was comforting;
it reminded me of NYC. There is so much strife in the world but here in
my German language class we laughed together - united in our efforts to
master this difficult language. I never thought I would one day sit in Germany,
studying German. As a Jewish-American I had my own prejudices about Germany.
I was raised on Holocaust stories, on Elie Wiesel, on Schindler’s
list, on Anne Frank, on German spoken harshly in movies, on relatives
and friends relatives surviving and perishing in the camps, on tales of
my grandfather and his brother surviving their war wounds received in
the Battle of the Bulge. My knowledge of Germany stopped at 1945. I experienced
anti-Semitism growing up in a German region of Pennsylvania. When I was
18, I encountered Nazi skinheads at parties and discos. Later I visited
Israel and Europe. I paid my respects at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem
and visited cousins in Tel Aviv who had escaped Nazi Germany after being
hidden at a Polish farm. During my summer European tour I visited Auschwitz
and Birkenau in Poland. I befriended Holocaust survivors with number tattoos
on their arms. Germany was still a black and white Leni Riefenstahl film in my mind and I had no desire to visit it. Despite not being religious, all these experiences solidified by identity as a Jew. I find it ironic that a little over 10 years later, I fell in love with a German man and am now living in Bavaria and loving it. The process My first reaction upon seeing my classmates was
a visceral one. I thought “Wow! What beautiful subjects for paintings!”
I was motivated to sketch a few of my classmates. Then one day in class
the teacher, Petra Trojanowski had us write on the board in our native
scripts. It was a great way to connect and learn about each other’s
cultures. I was struck by the beauty of my classmate’s calligraphy.
I think aspects of a person’s personality or emotional state can
be deduced in their penmanship. I wondered if I could learn anything from
the chalky scribbles on the board even though they represented alphabets
I did not know. I modified my sketches to include the handwriting as part
of the portrait. Next, I submitted a proposal of my project to
the Volkshochschule. My idea was to paint portraits of my entire class.
After my proposal was accepted, I explained in German my project to the
class. I’m not sure if they all understood me but most of them permitted
me to take their photographs during the 15-minute breaks of our 3-hour
sessions. Due to the general restlessness of my colleagues at this time,
I spent less than 20 seconds photographing each student with my digital
point and shoot. (I don’t think the photos were the best references
to work with but after 3 hours a day of staring at my classmates, their
image and personalities were burned into my brain.) I asked them to write
their names, why they were here in Deutschland and whatever else they
wanted to say. I chose the square size of 80cm x80cm for each
painting because I wanted the paintings to be roughly life size. I chose
the square format because for me a square represents an equal share of
the whole. Each student, no matter who they are, is equally a part of
the whole class. The green background in each painting represents the
chalkboard with a chalk written signature. I wanted to convey a classroom
setting with minimal reference. My aim with the portraits was to convey
a likeness and to bring out the personality of each student. I wanted
the paintings to be alive with color so that you could feel connected
to each student and share in their enthusiasm. I wanted you to like these
characters and have empathy for them like I did because if you passed
these “foreigners” in the street they would only be strangers.
In the end I painted 20 students from three classes I took in 2006. I went back to America for most of the summer
and reflected on my ideas and experiences. I began painting in August
on the narrow balcony of my boyfriend’s apartment. At the mercy
of the weather, the availability of sunlight and my rusty technique, the
first painting, that of Samroay, took me a month to complete. In December,
thanks to Linda Mößner, I had the privilege of moving into
her atelier at the Augsburger Puppenkiste. No longer did I have to worry
about being rained on as I painted. Because of so much practice, the 20th
painting, the self-portrait, took me a day to complete. Then Marcelo built
20 beautiful handmade frames and helped me hang the show. A reception was held on March 2nd 2007 at the
Volkshochschule for 4 exhibitions. This included my exhibit, “Portraits
von Teilnehmer Innen eines vhs-Deutsch-Kurses” along with Michael
Hinterleitner’s “Schmuck–Stücke”, Christine
Söffing’s “Rote Klänge und andere Konzerte”
and MigraNet’s “Viele Welten-Viele Fähigkeiten”
Biographien MigraNet / Tür an Tür. The show ran from March until
August 2007. ◊◊◊ ◊◊◊
◊◊◊ ..................................................... |
|||||||||