Congratulations to Plainwell High School's Laura Groner who has been selected as a Top 10 Finalist for the Henry Pestka Art & Poetry Contest! Her project, "I will remember", will be featured in an art exhibit at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park. Laura and PHS teacher Ms. Trahan will be attending the Henry Pestka Awards in May at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids where the top 3 Finalists will be announced.
Here is Laura's Artist Statement about her "I will remember" piece:
"I chose to create a piece using acrylic paints and a black marker for the writing and smaller details, such as the eyes and the dots inside the white flowers. The painting includes two young people hugging; the woman representing a pre-war Jewish person who is wearing an everyday dress as well as a present day middle aged black man embracing her. The words "I will remember" encompass the two individuals in multiple different languages. From left to right the languages are: French, German, Spanish, English, Yiddish, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. Most of these languages I choose at random and either knew myself or had friends help to translate into "I will remember". However, I specifically included Yiddish because it is a language that is/was spoken by many Jewish individuals throughout Europe-especially before the Holocaust. Yiddish is a combination of Hebrew and other languages, such as German. I painted the Jewish woman in an everyday dress instead of a blue striped concentration camp uniform to help show that people who experienced the Holocaust had a life before being stripped of their rights as human beings. Oftentimes when we think of people in the Holocaust, we recognize them as people, but do not take into account that they had a unique life before being sent to the camps or ghettos. In addition, when talking about the Holocaust, it is much easier to only see these people as a statistical number, not as individual people who had their own interests, complex emotions, and opinions-all of which are similar to our own nowadays regardless of the time period, race, religion or location. By choosing to dress the woman in clothes that a Jewish woman would be likely to wear before the Holocaust, I wanted to represent the woman and all others affected by the Holocaust as themselves, not adorned in Nazi regulated uniforms that served to strip them of their humanity. The black man embracing the woman in a hug is supposed to represent a present day person. The man can be interpreted as either Jewish or not, as Judaism is not a race but a religion and ethnicity. However, regardless of if the viewer sees the man as a Jewish individual or not, the painting is meant to represent the theme "Never Forget" by showing two people from different time periods and backgrounds coming together to share the pain. It is important to grieve together as fellow human beings in order to never forget past and present tragedies. Only when humans see each other as humans, and not "them" and "us", will we be able to prevent tragedies from occurring. My project further aligns with the theme by the all encompassing promise "I will remember" that surrounds the two different people. These words are important because it is our duty as people living in the present day to continue to educate, learn, talk, grieve and support each other in remembrance of human tragedies and triumphs. If we fail to remember, the people affected by the Holocaust will be lost to history. And if we fail to set our differences aside and come together as one human race, we will further divide ourselves away from one another. I hope my painting, regardless of reading my artist statement, displays this message for all of humanity clearly."