This painting represents my story of immigration because my father moved from Latvia when he was 16 with my grandparents and aunt. They decided to move because of the unstable situation in the Soviet Union and Latvia was a communist country. My dad told me about how I should be grateful for what I have because when he was younger, he didn’t have as much. He would paint in high school, and even majored in art in college, and this is a painting that he made after he moved from Latvia. This was made in 1998, when he was 19. He has passed his customs down to us, such as Russian Christmas, and more. When I see this painting it makes me think of my dad’s story of how he immigrated from Latvia to Boston, without knowing how to speak English, and he had to learn how to adapt and learn English to get a job and get into a college, since he was already ending high school when he arrived. 

– V.K

Relationship:  Child of im/migrant Child of im/migrant