Portrait of holocaust survivor Miriam Volk for the Lonka Project. I am honored to participate in this amazing project, which is made even more meaningful to me since it is created by one of my main mentors, Jim Hollander, and his wife Rina Castelnuovo.

Miriam Volk, 99, a holocaust survivor is seen in her home in Salt Lake City, Utah, Saturday May 15, 2021. Ms. Volk survived the Warsaw Ghetto, Auschwitz, and a death march to Bergen-Belsen. After the war she returned to her hometown of Kalisz in Poland to see if she could find any relatives. "I did not find anybody, all my relatives did not make it. I was the only one."

Miriam’s message as a survivor “If you see someone teasing or bullying someone else because they are gay or black or another religion, or just different, You cannot stand there and do nothing. You must protect them and stand up against hatred. Be nice to each other. Life and be very precious and terrific if you do it the right way.”

Deep gratitude to August Miller, who helped me and delivered his lighting genius and magical charisma to the mix.