Artist Statement:
This series of paintings is based on the life and work of Edith Stein. A German Philosopher and Jewish convert to Catholicism, Edith Stein took the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross when she entered the Carmelite Religious order in 1933. Because of the Nazi persecution of Jewish people, Sister Benedicta was sent to the Netherlands for safety. In response to protests from the Dutch Bishops for the treatment of the Jews by the Nazis, all Catholics of Jewish origin were arrested by the Gestapo on Sunday, August 2, 1942. Several days after, they were sent to Auschwitz where they died in gas chambers on August 9, 1942.
Especially in this current work, I am drawing on my love of Theology and Philosophy. I consider art as a way to express the mysterious and deep relationship formed by religion and the search for truth.
