In September of 2024, eight current and former students at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) visited the Newberry to see and learn about the items on display in Making an Impression: Immigrant Printing in Chicago. In response, each student created their own broadside designs to share with exhibition visitors. The artist's statement below accompanies their finished broadside and explains the artist's style, approach, and intentions.
In the 1920s my great grandmother immigrated to the United States of America fleeing Russia and among her few belongings she kept diaries. Since then the diaries have been translated to English and show a forcibly mature twelve year old adapting to a new life. The idea of language is a central idea in the broadside with the idea of Cyrillic characters being erased by Latin characters. Specifically the letter Ж (zhenia) being made with “K” as she had to adapt to the new life/ language of America. The title of the piece is the Russian spelling of America made of Latin characters as the relationship of Russia is taken by that of America.
Dedicated to my great grandmother, Lydia Dimitrievna Komarkoff.