On This Day

In 2019, a group of six University of Pittsburgh students received competitive summer fellowships. Together, they decided to create an exhibit to describe the experiences of college students around the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue. The exhibit, titled “To Those Who Grasp It: Student Responses to Oct. 27th,” opened at the University of Pittsburgh in the Fall of 2019 and was displayed at the Holocaust Center in December 2019 and January 2020.

This piece, “On This Day,” was part of the exhibit and created by one of the students, Caroline Mead. Her father, Dan Mead, was a first responder during the attack on Tree of Life, and was injured by the shooter. At the opening of the initial exhibit, Caroline said:

“Ever since the attack happened, I wanted to do something. It seemed an event so great that any efforts that I could make seemed futile, and this was the one way that I could do what I do best and contribute to something in the bigger picture.”

Caroline Mead is a Pittsburgh-based artist focusing on sculpture and screen printing.