Blue Onion

A series of soft sculptures based on the collectible “blue onion” porcelain dishware originally manufactured by the German company Meissen. This series was inspired by my paternal grandmother’s story of survival in ravaged Poland in the immediate aftermath of WW2. She walked around abandoned and destroyed homes for household items that could be sold. She learned all of the porcelain factories’ marks to better distinguish the valuable pieces. Throughout the Soviet occupation, she and my grandfather continued to sell such collectables, among other things, on the black market. This side hustle was then passed on to my parents, who also smuggled jeans and jewelry. This series, made of craft felt, is an abstraction and attempt at understanding these difficult family histories from a very different perspective.

Screen-print on craft felt with pins