Som Chai meets my family & friends
I am so excited that Som Chai is now in Oz and has been granted a partner visa.
He's met my family and friends, and even come along to Uni with me.
It is wonderful having him here with me - no more lonely nights or awkward outings on my own!
I can throw my wish list in the fire now because he fulfils all my dreams. I am so proud of him - he is charismatic, generous and kind, and he is also Budhist and a meditator!
I wondered whether there was a difference between art made by a human and art made by a machine? So I made a fan that painted, and I became a painting human fan.
Conclusion: there was no difference.
Just an Ordinary Peasant is based on my uncle’s experience as an inmate at Treblinka extermination camp in 1944. His memoir recounts that while being forced to carry corpses from the gas chambers to an open-air pyre, he was handed a sack which held little children who were still alive. The guard commanded the sack be thrown into the fire. The woman I play in Just an Ordinary Peasant is a hybrid character created from the memoirs of my uncle, my parents and my own research. She sings and dances and also throws a sack of babies into the fire. This piece explores my own biases as well as questions the culpability of ‘ordinary people’ who were accomplices to the atrocities carried out during the Third Reich.
Rat tests to protect
Stones to remember
1/2026
Since Hamas's massacre of Israelis on 7 October 2023, I’ve transformed my car into a kind of talisman and memorial.
In the days that followed, I was stressed and upset and needed to keep my hands busy. I began to imagine a living breathing memorial. I started covering my car with covid rat tests; they felt like a sort of protective shield against the rising hatred I saw around me.
On the roof, I attached a large broken heart next to the words ‘Why Does my heart feel so bad’ and the date, 7/10/23.
After the Sydney shooting of Jews in December 25, I began adding pebbles to my car — each one a memory of those murdered, and for the lives lost since.
On the bonnet, just above the Holden logo, I placed a small menorah in honour of the victims.
I also painted a mirrored image of Dali, the two faces joined by their touching moustaches, creating magic. Dali reminds me of my father, Adolek, a Holocaust survivor who always believed in human goodness. He once explained that every culture has both good people and evil people and that we must always hope that goodness prevails.
I first wrote about my car in 2024, in a blog post: ‘RAT tests for my protection’
https://www.janekormanart.com/post/rat-tests-for-my-protection
 Rat tests to protect, Stones to remember |  My broken heart |
|---|---|
 After Bondi: A Menorah logo |  07/10/2023 Remembering the massacre |
 Why does my heart feel so bad |  My itchy hands :-) |
 Look-a-likes: Dali and my dad Adolek |  Pomegranates & flowers blessings |