MAY 9 • 2024 | 51

prisoner drawings. It was an 
experience that was shared 
across all departments and a 
huge team effort.

JN: How do you bring forth 
love and beauty in such a 
heartbreaking place?
Mundell: We have to 
remember that in order to 
survive, survivors had to 
find a way to continue to 
live even in the specter of 
death and brutality. That 
was something that really 
struck us about Lale and 
Gita’s story, for two people 
to be able to find it with-
in themselves, to have the 
courage to dig deep enough 
to remember that, as human 
beings, they have the capaci-
ty to love and to be connect-
ed to somebody.
It’s an act of defiance, I 
think, against the process of 
dehumanization to be able 
to see that. They were each 
other’s reason to live. That’s 
a question the show asks the 
audience — what would any 
of us do to survive? Visiting 
Auschwitz is just a very 
alienating experience. To be 
there and see the scale of it 
is just beyond belief.

JN: The series is being 
released at a time of what is 
considered to be the high-
est level of antisemitism 
since the Holocaust. What 
messages can people take 
away from The Tattooist of 
Auschwitz and why are they 
relevant, especially now?
Mundell: We never 
could have anticipated the 
timing of the show. When 
we started the process back 
in 2018, antisemitism was 
on the rise and had always 
been with us. Sadly, it 
continues to remain part of 
our society, so the fact that 
we’re releasing at this time is 
a very strange coincidence. 
It wasn’t planned that way, 
but I think it will clearly 
resonate even more greatly 
with the audience because 
of the terrible themes we’re 
living through. 
Drama, I think, has some 
weird capacity to understand 
what society needs, and I 
think maybe that’s the case 
here. 
There’s a need for our 
work to be exposed that 
only reflects the issues 
we’re all thinking about and 
grappling with. 

FILM

continued from page 49

Scene from 
The Tattooist of 
Auschwitz

NBCU

an English degree, all I 
wanted to do was work at 
perfecting the craft. I slowly 
fell into it with apprenticing. 
Glass became my full-time 
occupation, and I’m very 
lucky to be very busy.
”
Harris, born in Florida and 
raised in New Jersey, does his 
work at UrbanGlass studios 
in Brooklyn and shows his 
work at Todd Merrill Studio 
in New York.
“UrbanGlass is a nonprofit 
dedicated to creating a space 
for glass artists to make their 
work, experiment in their 
work and learn and teach 
their work,
” Harris said. 
“It’s a large, cooperative 
workshop and really a 
communal, experimental 
space that encourages 
thinking differently in the 
field. It’s been very influential 
in my work.
”
Harris and his wife, Rachel 
Fishman, practice Judaism in 
ways they consider secular 
with family and community. 
He encourages his teen son, 
Sam, to bring friends to see 
the studio work in making 
glass.
“I’m an amateur runner,
” 
said Harris, 49. ”I’m going to 
run my third New York City 

marathon this year. Running 
has been something I’ve done 
most of my adult life. Partly 
it’s what I need to do to stay 
in shape. Glassmaking is 
physical and requires your 
body to be in shape.
“My work is large scale, 
and it’s physical. I want to 
make sure that as I get older, I 
make bigger and better work 
and my body stays up to the 
challenge.
”
Habatat is operated by 
second-generation owners 
Aaron Schey and Corey 
Hampson. Other artists 
with Jewish heritage include 
Andrew Madvin, who makes 
glass designs in his Axiom 
Studio near Habatat, Marlene 
Rose of Florida, Toland Sand 
of California, Alex Bernstein 
of Connecticut and Laura 
Donefer of Canada. 
“Today the world of 
contemporary art glass has 
grown dramatically from its 
beginning as mostly blown 
glass to constantly evolving 
creative ways of working with 
glass, including cast, slumped, 
fused, flamed and laminated 
works of glass art,
” Schey said. 
“I am very excited to see all of 
the work on display for this 
annual event.
” 

“Infusion Block in Amber, Aqua, 
Grey and Blues”

