SHOAH DREAMS (detail, child with bird's nest scarf)

This detail image shows a child with a scarf wrapped around his head or neck, holding a cup and a brick of bread. The artist calls this the "child with bird's nest scarf." This nameless child posed for a photo that
the Nazi's ordered the Judenrat (Jewish Council, an administrative organization to maintain order, each established by the Nazi's in every ghetto) to create for a propaganda booklet on the ghetto in Kielce, Poland. In the photo, the child is smiling.

The photo can be seen in the website of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C (Archives photo: Children — Kielce Ghetto, #03272).

Segan was immediately drawn to the photo as the scarf has the look of a bird's nest. The scarf was probably made from twine or cord. The Kielce ghetto was liquidated between August 20-24, 1942. Children and adults who were ill had been taken out of the ghetto and killed prior to the deportation.

The child's wing is not technically a wing, but the tail of a Seattle pigeon found by the artist in 1998 on Alaskan Way by the Seattle waterfront downtown. The artist did not draw the entire tail, leaving a section (seen at upper left) "incomplete" for compositional effect.