The opinions expressed in these student art pieces belong to the student artists and do not necessarily express views of the Holocaust Commission of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater.
Elie Wiesel 2022 Student Art Show
Senior Division
Tugce Irem Altunbas
High Bluff Academy
Ellen Sullivan
Helping Hands
The message in my hand drawing is helping others. Be aware that there are so many people out there that are suffering, and sometimes even though we see them, we do not do anything about it. It is just not right, as we should hear them and help them as much as we can. I also wanted to include a picture of Elie Wiesel because he talked about helping others, and he has good quotes about it, such as, “The only way for us to help ourselves is to help others and to listen to each other's stories.”
Lindsay Arnette
Frank W. Cox High School
Jessica van Veenhuyzen
Under the Floorboards
I drew a Jewish boy hiding under the floor boards trying to stay hidden from a Nazi soldier. I thought this was a good representation of what people went through doing the Holocaust.
Erin Bailey
Catholic High School
Maggie. Hudson
Hatred in Mistakes
Elie Wiesel states, “Which is worse? Killing with hate or killing without hate?” The picture of the girl standing before the door covered in barbed wire represents repeating mistakes. Many times we make mistakes, and yet we expect different outcomes when we keep repeating mistakes. In life we have many opportunities/doors, but if we can’t move forward from the past, you will get stuck in the doorway. Do you ever reflect on your actions and wish you made a different choice? Because once you come face to face with the same mistake, you probably wish you had done differently. Millions of people died in the Holocaust, and it got so out of hand because nothing was said for a while. People probably wish they had not been silent and regret that mistake. Which can go hand and hand with my drawing.
Justin Baird
High Bluff Academy
Ellen Sullivan
In Broad Daylight
This picture reflects my view of current politics with a comparison of Donald Trump at a rally to a Ku Klux Klan leader at a Klan meeting. Both Trump and the KKK have created despair with their inhumanities towards their fellow men. Particularly on January 6th, Trump caused despair to the people who were killed during the insurrection. The KKK caused despair to all of the victims of their lynching.
Callan Barboza
Frank W. Cox High School
Jessica van Veenhuyzen
Look Within
This piece is meant to embody the concept of looking within yourself, while being in tune with and aware of the world. In this piece, the monotone head is surrounded by dispirited news articles. Some of these articles touch on personal situations while others discuss worldwide issues including race, politics, economics, and society. The large third eye within the head represents awareness. A person who lacks self-awareness, who does not understand who he or she is, and what the world sees in him or her, will fall short. You can gain insight into the world if you see things in their true light, instead of seeing things through your own eyes or biased perceptions. We cannot change others or our surroundings, we can only control our actions and reactions. Those who have not made positive changes within themselves will find it difficult to positively transform the world.
Caspin Berklee
Cape Henry Collegiate School
Brian Facemire
Dysphoria
As a queer transgender youth, I’m no stranger to the harassment that can emerge from my peers. More than that, I'm no stranger to the witnesses who choose to avert their gaze. Polaroids of school dances and long hair regularly flood my brain, reminding me of the body I'm trapped in. The shame that comes from having to “prove” that I'm a boy is nauseating. No one takes you seriously when you're young. Traversing the halls with aching ribs just to make my chest appear smaller leaves bruises on my torso, but the pain of being seen as female hurts much greater than suffocating fabric binding my lungs. I came out as queer when I was eleven. I know more than anything that what I needed back then was for someone to not look away. I hope my piece can be that support for anyone who's also been turned away.
Anna Brown
High Bluff Academy
Ellen Sullivan
Never Be Silent
Elie Wiesel’s Night left a lasting impression on me. I included two quotes from Night on the subject of indifference. In today's world, violent acts against humanity are still a reality, be it due to race, gender, religion, political beliefs, or abuse of power in government or abuse in the home or workplace. I realize I cannot prevent all violent acts but even in my daily life I realize now that by not speaking out, by being indifferent, I am contributing to the violence and abuse. The images I chose are both from the present and the past and are meant to be provocative. Maybe to make one see, feel, and remember to act. To make a difference for the good.
Ella Denno
Cape Henry Collegiate School
Jeff Warden
Never Forget
My piece is on the Holocaust and those who experienced its horrors. Throughout the Holocaust so many lives were lost and so many people were tortured. Many symbols were left behind from those who lived and those who we lost. The Jews were thrown into camps and locked inside. They were trapped behind barbed wire and tortured. Everything that happened to the Jewish people or anyone involved in the Holocaust revolved around the Nazis. The Nazis created this image that Jewish people are not meant for this world, and they need to be erased. But the Jews fought through and broke out of that barbed wire.
Aaliya Dolson
Tidewater Collegiate Academy
Tiffany Reniva
There's Only Two Sides of a Coin
I created this very simple piece of art because it is directly to the point. I chose these colors because each represents something. The white represents that the person is innocent and the purple represents how they’re suffering and in pain. The red represents the anger and violence of the other person, and blue represents the sorrowfulness of the situation. The grey represents neutrality and how the person isn’t taking any sides.
Jordan Freeman
Catholic High School
Maggie Hudson
Out of the Smoke
My drawing is based on the third prompt that is exemplifying the silence that the people of Holocaust endured. This piece depicts a soldier and child to show the breaking of the silence. While the men, women, and children were in the camps they were seen as only numbers. They did not have rights or a voice to convey the issues that they were having. Once they were taken out of the camps they were then given back that voice to find life on their own. The image of the soldier and the child conveys some of the overlooked issues of the Holocaust.
Anna Glinni
High Bluff Academy
Ellen Sullivan
Cost of Silence
I wanted to show that when choosing to be a bystander, the suffering of others continues. The Nazi soldier in the background painting the star shows that the Jews are targeted, and the priests walking by with zippers for mouths represents their silence so nothing would happen to them. The barbed wire fence represents the cruelty that the Jews go through, and that they weren't treated fairly.
Grace Gochicoa-Gruberth
High Bluff Academy
Ellen Sullivan
Universe of Obligation
Thinking on the Holocaust brought up questions of who people feel obligation to, and the way atrocities are justified by participants and bystanders. Some figures in the drawing are just shadows because they were Nazi soldiers, and I felt strongly opposed to staring at those people and honoring them by drawing their faces. Written upon them are some reasons why they may have chosen to take part, I do understand that motivation was complex and cannot be described by a single word. Connecting to the concept of bystanders and how far our universe of obligations reaches, I thought about the role the US might have played by taking in immigrants, along with the antisemitism existing at the time that prevented that from happening. I felt the role the US played in these atrocities should be stated, especially for this competition. Silence is damaging too, and we must examine our own moral obligations.
Amara Greene
Tallwood High School
Kathleen LaRoue
Oppression
When creating my art piece, I mainly had in mind topics like human rights violations and inhumanity. I added not only pictures from the Holocaust but also pictures from other countries that had genocides that were similar. I had questions like, “Why would someone of high power do things that are so cruel to their own people?" Some of the topics that I thought were most similar to the Holocaust that was more present were the coup in Myanmar, the Christian crisis in Afghanistan, and many more.
Blake Griffiths
Cape Henry Collegiate School
Brian Facemire
January 6th
For my project I chose the 3rd activity and specifically I focused on the January 6th Capitol insurrection. As many of us know on that day people stormed the Capitol building in “protest” of losing the election. When I learned about this I was disturbed and annoyed, but more than anything I was disappointed. Somehow people believed that what they did was ok. They believed that it was right. I felt that our country was in ruin. I felt like it was falling apart, and maybe it is. That's what gave me the idea for my art piece. I drew the Capitol building in ruin. Showing how broken our country felt to me at the time.
Olivia Gusman
Catholic High School
Maggie Hudson
Never Forget
Ava Holland
Cape Henry Collegiate School
Jeff Warden
Aftermath of Bad Decisions
I chose activity number one because, being a teenager, I can relate to the pressure of trying to be socially accepted, which can lead to poor choices such as underage drinking. If people (especially teens) continue to lose themselves trying to fit in this way, then a consistent outcome of regret and loneliness will lay cold and heavy on them because they are going with the crowd and being peepr pressured to engage in bad decisions. it's important to acknowledge the depression that can be created by alcoholism, so I feel as though my artwork is a strong symbol of the unfortunate result of this unthoughtful action.
Jannah Issa
Hampton High School
Ashley Ault
Checkmate
This piece I call ‘checkmate’ represents the tricky game that POC must play to make sure that their actions do not affect how their race is perceived. I chose the game as chess to represent this struggle because whenever you are playing chess, you are not only thinking of your next move, but the future moves to come in order to not trap yourself.
Owen Klimkiewicz
Cape Henry Collegiate School
Brian Facemire
The Pandemic
My artwork was inspired by the global pandemic that everyone has been affected by in their own ways throughout the past few years. I drew a man wearing a mask not only for the protection of himself but also the ones around him in the city. I wrote words on the man's mask that represent emotions that the pandemic has brought to people around the world. The tall buildings behind the man represent the population and community that he lives in and how all of them can be affected by him. I kept the man's mask gray to show that most of the emotions on the mask are negative. This artwork represents how I have felt throughout this long pandemic.
Natalie Licosati
High Bluff Academy
Ellen Sullivan
Neutrality
Neutrality is one of the biggest necessities in our society. No matter your size, shape, or color, we all deserve meaning and love. In our world today we have so much discrimination, even if it is not apparent to you it may be to someone you love. Speaking out for those who cannot speak for themselves is what empowers the victim rather than allowing the bully to succeed. Standing together as one can show that even when you feel alone, you are not. By using the contrasting black and white, the neutrality of the grey in the middle shows that when we work together, we can help show that there is enough love for everyone.
Nikki Maleknejad
High Bluff Academy
Ellen Sullivan
An Opportunity for Freedom
I created my digital art in honor of Abdol Hossein Sardari (1914-1981), an Iranian diplomat who saved thousands of Jews by issuing them Iranian passports to help them flee the then Nazi-occupied France. Not only did he help Iranian Jews obtain passports, but he also helped many non-Iranian Jews obtain them as well. He created an artificial religion, claiming that the Jews were not Jewish and were rather "Djougoutes." He made this claim to protect them and argue that they did not belong to Hitler's "enemy race," and instead had the same civil, legal, and military rights as Muslims in Iran. While Sardari had multiple opportunities to leave France, he decided to stay to help free the Jews. The color red represents challenges, the difficult task that Sardari took on, and the horrific journey the Jews faced escaping France. The colors orange and gold represents bravery, hope, and an opportunity for freedom.
Julia Michalek
Catholic High School
Maggie. Husdon
Sleeping Prisoner
In my piece, a young Elie Wiesel is sleeping in a bunkbed at Auschwitz, unaware that his lower bunkmate, which was his father, has been taken in the middle of the night and presumably killed. This piece showcases the loneliness, heartbreak, and exhaustion he faced. He is facing the wall because he feels unable to face the despair and pain the Holocaust caused for him, and cannot stand up for himself against oppression. His loss is further highlighted by the empty blanket below him, and the lack of any other prisoners, as he lost everyone close to him in the concentration camps. However, despite his inequality and suffering, he is able to overcome and make a difference in the world.
Jessica Militante
Tallwood High School
Kathleen LaRoue
Glass Barrier
Nadia Paige
Cape Henry Collegiate School
Brian Facemire
Regret
Regret is a lingering feeling.
Something that would've made a difference is now lost forever.
It pulls at the mind as if anything could be done about it now.
When more situations arise and the option to do something is not taken.
The guilt only grows bigger as the outcomes that could've been are contemplated, and the mind is further ripped apart.
This artwork depicts regret in that same pulling concept.
A bystander sulks and watches from afar.
An innocent person is needlessly disposed of by a line of German Nazi soldiers, while the bystander struggles with the tug of regret that begs for the bystander to have done anything in the moment.
The guilt and lingering feelings of regret felt by the Germans who acted as bystanders is most likely similar to what this artwork is displaying, although it probably has had a much greater impact on their lives.
Paige Pidgeon
High Bluff Academy
Ellen Sullivan
Scaled
In a time when time, thought, and love vanished, what impact does a human have? Where were they, the scale of it all, the weight of it all? There are no labels, as labels plague the vulnerable. Where is your hate, all it is, is your hurt. Be disturbed by art as the dreams of the hopeless have sculpted it
Kayden Riefer
Tallwood High School
Kathleen LaRoue
Inside the Holocaust
This drawing is my take on what happened inside of the Holocaust concentration camps, and the toll it took on the Jewish people. I think that although the many tragedies that happened within the concentration camps, the Holocaust taught a global lesson to everyone, which was that although people may do harmful and traumatic things for you, you should never stop fighting for what you believe in.
I displayed an Israeli flag to highlight the Jews who had to suffer inside of these camps due to the rise in Nationalism. The rise in nationalism intensified the rise in antisemitism, which had also been growing since the Enlightenment. Once Hitler was appointed Chancellor, the Nazis quickly abused their power, taking advantage of the Reichstag Fire of February 1933 to begin the reign of terror. Although they primarily aimed at political enemies, the infrastructure of camps and institutionalized torture used in these initial months provided the groundwork for the camp system which later resulted in mass murder. Jews were quickly targeted by the Nazi regime. As their power became stronger, the Nazis quickly moved to a more obvious ways of persecution. An example is the Nuremberg Laws of 1935, which stripped Jews of their citizenship. In my art I wanted to show that although the Jews were discriminated against, it never stopped them from fighting for what they believed, in even though they were scared and traumatized by the Nazis.
Ethan Schiffman
High Bluff Academy
Ellen Sullivan
Mob Mentality
Mob mentality is wrong. Mob mentality is dangerous and destructive. Individuals become emotionally influenced by large groups and can be persuaded to commit violent acts. On January 6, 2021, thousands of protestors attacked the Capitol Building in Washington D.C. in an attempt to overturn the presidential election. This attack on American democracy led to violent clashes with Capitol police and extensive physical damage to the Capitol Building. Hours after the riots, hundreds of people were injured and some were killed. 700 Americans were later arrested. A year has passed since the Capitol riots and to me it is still scary to think that this event could happen again. My art piece describes how mob mentality can negatively influence people to participate in violent acts.
Phillip Sena
High Bluff Academy
Ellen Sullivan
Fatality
I think killing with hate is worse than killing without hate because when people are playing video games and yell at the other person it makes it worse than if you are playing and when you die you don’t get yelled at. I feel like this is the same when people on games yell at girls and little kids for having a high voice. Killing with hate is worse because it makes the person feel worse about dying in the game and ashamed to go back on it. I feel that if someone gets hated on that much that will have a higher chance to hate on the next person that they meet. If you kill without hate in a game it keeps it friendly and everyone has fun even if they get killed or have a bad game.
Kate Short
Cape Henry Collegiate School
Brian Facemire
On the Outside
My artwork portrays the reaction of generations after the Holocaust, being told all the horrific things that had occurred. It represents a child standing behind a fence, frustrated because they're unable to do anything about it. Feeling helpless and guilty for everything that has happened. My illustration shows the empathy and compassion felt for all the pain and dehumanization Jews had to experience. Seeing the hand on the fence symbolizes the heartbreak and sympathy for everyone who was affected by this dreadful genocide. Being on the outside, the other side of the fence reflects never fully understanding what appalling things they were forced to endure.
Jasmine Smith
Frank W. Cox High School
Jessica van Veehuyzen
What's Going on in My Mind?
I wanted to make a piece that helps portray what can happen in someone's mind with the good and the bad. Our minds are split in half with one half being the technological side where intelligence stays, and I thought that it would be best to draw that side in pencil and black pen. Then there is the creative side where we are the most passionate with what we love, and I figured it would be best to use watercolor and paint pens for that side. I also decided to draw chains with a pen and it’s holding onto our brain that keeps in place and I painted a simple gray background which is the darkness of our heads. In the background, I wrote the negative phrases that we tell ourselves or what people tell us to bring us down. But then I painted and then glued a colorful bandage that says, “You are Enough,” because no matter what bad stuff we say to ourselves, at the end of the day we are good people and we’ve been through a lot, and we can fight for what comes at us.
Carly Tarrant
Tidewater Collegiate Academy
Tiffany Reniva
Contrasting Views
Audrey Vergara
Catholic High School
Maggie Hudson
Silent Vows
Silent Vows depicts the oppression and suppression of the LGBTQ+ community by society over the past years by simply removing the couple’s mouths, symbolizing how society suppresses their voices with prejudice and violence. The couple’s expressions reflect the community’s reactions to their oppression: some are outraged and demand for change, while others are saddened yet scared to raise their voices in fear of being hurt. Silent Vows answers the third prompt by reflecting how an oppressive society has affected the LGBTQ+ community, forcing them into silence for the past several years in fear of being ostracized or harmed. Although conditions are improving for the LGBTQ+ community today, lots of harmful discrimination and prejudice still remain to this day.
Amy Wang
Albemarle High School
Katie McKinley
Stuck
Throughout the pandemic, anti-Asian sentiment increased drastically to the point of violence, due to the spread of misinformation. As an Asian-American, reading stories of innocent Asian people being attacked made me fear for what could happen to me, despite living in a community I’ve felt safe in since I was little. During the pandemic, I dealt with isolation by walking outside and taking in the fresh air every day. However, after seeing a lot of anti-Asian sentiment in the news, my fear locked me inside a bubble around my house and took away my outlet. My piece illustrates my feelings of being trapped due to labels from society I felt were associated with me during quarantine. I hope that from my piece people realize the potential their words have to create despair, and the consequences of staying neutral and ignorant in times of injustice.
Thomas Williams
Catholic High School
Maggie Hudson
Sunset Over Auschwitz
In my piece I incorporated the symbolism of a day coming to end in the sunset to highlight the loss of life in the concentration camps. I think that this imagery is nice because a beautiful sunset contrasts greatly with the horrors of a concentration camp. I decided to make the camp more of a silhouette to make more of a difference from the background. Overall, this piece represents the despair that the Jewish people went through as a result of hate.
Yujie (Linda) Yang
Cape Henry Collegiate School
Jeff Warden
My Grandma
I'm so grateful that I was a part of my grandma's life, and witnessing my little growth brings us a lot of happy memories. I know a lot of old people who feel lonely, helpless, and unconcerned, and it's all because of family indifference but ours is different. I video-called her regularly until she died. In the form of Facetime to chat with her to relieve boredom, she would ask me "how am I,” love to listen to me about my life trivia, and also give me meticulous care and love. My grandpa told me that she was looking forward to Facetime and chatting with me every time. When I Facetime with her, I could feel her warming me every moment and she told me that I was warming her, too. So I made this drawing to honor her.
