Nipissing University Archives

Countless

‘Countless’ takes a critical view of the social, political and cultural issues of the Second World War, in particularly focusing on the negative and cruel treatments towards the Jewish community. Through personal research of, and travel to, Holocaust memorial sites and concentration camps across Poland, my work highlights the relationship between historical events and fine arts. ‘Countless’ expresses such relationships through familiar visual and aural signs while arranging them into new conceptually layered forms. In studying the affect of abject art and it’s impact towards spectators understanding of artworks, I have woven together the emotional impact among Holocaust victims in comparison to their perpetrators.
Within this piece a lone figure is used to reflect the amount of loss among the Jewish culture during the Second World War. The figure is ill, broken, bruised, genderless and ageless. It portrays the various amount people that were affected by the work of the Third Reich and the faceless appearance reflects the mass loss of personality and humanity during the treacherous years of the war. Abject art allows me to create the sense of invasion, guilt and helplessness when viewers are drawn to look upon the figure. The purpose of this artwork is to portray a fabricated realization of the historical reality brought upon the Jewish community against their will, and the ability of viewers today to learn and pay respects for the lives lost.


Medium: Plaster with Acrylic Patina
Dimensions: Life Size - 4ft x 3ft x 2ft