Untitled (Christmas Card) 

This is Adja Yunkers's "Untitled (Christmas Card)," a woodcut print of graphic forms. Born in Latvia in 1900, Yunkers’s life was profoundly shaped by the tumultuous events of the 20th century. Yunkers, a Jewish man, fled Europe in the face of Nazi persecution, eventually finding refuge in the United States. This personal history of displacement and survival is embedded within the artwork. The stark contrasts and abstracted forms evoke a sense of unease, mirroring the alienation of exile. Christmas cards often represent harmony and togetherness, but Yunkers offers a strikingly different vision. The figures, rendered in bold black lines against a rusty-red background, appear spectral and fragmented. Are these figures arriving or departing? What narratives are concealed beneath this surface of this Christmas scene? Yunkers’s print invites us to reflect on the complexities of identity, history, and the human condition, revealing the multifaceted layers of celebration and crisis.