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Jewish Pride & Social Justice
In the tumultuous summer of 2020, my values took a sharp progressive turn. I’d never been particularly conservative about anything, but the new social justice activism and encroaching U.S. Fascism drove me to explore the politically radical history of the Jewish people in the early 20th century. We – Jews – are commonly thought of as having been weak victims desperately hiding from our oppressors, when in fact we were fiercely resisting. To my delight, I found women played a prominent role in the partisan resistance brigades of the Holocaust. Photographs of these women radiate a defiance and even outright joy in the face of brutal oppression, which is something seldom included in Holocaust education.
![Part of my “Ner Tamid” (Everlasting Light) Series, this illustration is of Holocaust-era Jewish partisan Sara Gaite. Her rifle is wrapped in an olive branch and rather than grenades she carries pomegranates. Top right image is a pomegranate with “BS”D” symbol, bottom left shows the New Tamid “hechsher.” Yiddish reads “All people are siblings” and “Fascism and Nazism must be smashed.” Pomegranate Partisan Sara Ginaite](https://www.emilyk.art/wp-content/uploads/cache/2022/05/partisan-pomegranate-sara-gaite-16x20-in/4117937801.jpg)
Part of my “Ner Tamid” (Everlasting Light) Series, this illustration is of Holocaust-era Jewish partisan Sara Gaite. Her rifle is wrapped in an olive branch and rather than grenades she carries pomegranates. Top right image is a pomegranate with “BS”D” symbol, bottom left shows the New Tamid “hechsher.” Yiddish reads “All people are siblings” and “Fascism and Nazism must be smashed.”
![This work is in honor of the Ukraine resistance fighting against invading Russian military. The woman featured is based on a statue in Kyiv, a goddess figure holding a kalyna branch, Ukraine’s National plant. In my illustration, she holds a Molotov cocktail with the trident coat of arms on the label.The fire from the bottle morphs into a Kalynia branch. Upon her head is a traditional floral crown, into which sunflowers- the Ukraine national flower- are set.
Around the shield is a verse from the poem “To Osnovyanenko” by their national poet, Taras Shevchenko. It is from this poem that we have the earliest example of the cry “Sláva Ukrayíni!” (Glory to Ukraine!”
All of the colors are taken from Ukraine’s military regalia. Berehynia of Resistance](https://www.emilyk.art/wp-content/uploads/cache/2022/05/Berehynia-web/3560902020.jpg)
This work is in honor of the Ukraine resistance fighting against invading Russian military. The woman featured is based on a statue in Kyiv, a goddess figure holding a kalyna branch, Ukraine’s National plant. In my illustration, she holds a Molotov cocktail with the trident coat of arms on the label.The fire from the bottle morphs into a Kalynia branch. Upon her head is a traditional floral crown, into which sunflowers- the Ukraine national flower- are set.
Around the shield is a verse from the poem “To Osnovyanenko” by their national poet, Taras Shevchenko. It is from this poem that we have the earliest example of the cry “Sláva Ukrayíni!” (Glory to Ukraine!”
All of the colors are taken from Ukraine’s military regalia.