Pickled Gold

    For my thesis exhibition, I wanted to explore a part of my personal heritage. My grandmother is off the boat from Greece, and over the years I have gotten to hear stories and see a few old photos of her early life and move to America with her new husband, my grandfather. One story that has always stuck with me is that of my great-great grandmother, who, when forced to leave war torn Turkey for Greece without her possessions, attempted to hide some of her gold coins in the hem of her coat and the bottom of a pickle jar. While she managed to smuggle the gold in her coat, the pickle jar was assumed superfluous by the boat guard and thrown overboard.

    This gold to me has a deeper significance to it, representing not just valuable currency for a desperate widowed mother, but also the customs and connections that are inevitably lost through immigration and generational time passing. Just because most of the gold is lost, does that mean it has lost its value? I do not think so, and in light of this family story, I was inspired by a specific set of old photos showing my grandparents’ engagement celebration. The moments depicted so candidly in these faded photographs show a time right on the edge of my grandmother’s immigration to America. They show an entire side of my family that I have never and will never know, and yet, when I look at their faces and expressions, it feels like I do know them. I can put myself in the scene just as I can picture the sparkling of the gold as it sunk into the depths of the sea.

    Through my thesis, I hope to share this experience of looking back to the cultures and the ancestors that made us who we are, despite us not being part of their lives. Our gold is pickled, it is preserved. It is sown into the fabric of our ancestors’ lives and lays the foundation of our own lives. My thesis is a tribute to my Greek heritage, and the treasures that are passed on, and those that are lost over time. When I finally step away from my work, it is my hope that any viewer can come to know a bit about the people and events I am depicting, and through them, come to know more about me.

Thesis Committee Members:

Professor Alexander Bostic, Chair

Professor Joseph Morzuch

Doctor Benjamin Harvey

Pickled Gold

Mixed Media, Size (14” x 20”), 2022, NFS

Sultana

Mixed Media, Size (12” x 16”), 2022, NFS

End for a New Beginning

Mixed Media, Size (16” x 20”), 2022, NFS

Yaya

Mixed media, Size (18” x 24”), 2022, NFS