We Share The Same Sky

'We Share The Same Sky' is an intergenerational journey that explores life, death and the will to move forward in the face of uncertainty. In 1939, at the age of 14, Hana, my maternal grandmother, fled Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia. She traveled through Central Europe and Scandinavia, running alongside war - facing it in front of her and leaving it behind her, as uncertainty loomed in each direction. As the only survivor in her family, she lived as a stateless person for 11 years in Europe before immigrating to the United States. In America, she learned her sixth language and navigated the cultural ramifications of living in a new historical narrative while coming to terms with her own. Guided by the extensive archive material she left behind, I have immersed herself into the languages, landscapes and lives that Hana experienced during her adolescence and early adulthood. Through this work, I have connected with descendants of those who aided in her survival, working to weave together the thin threads of history.