Anne Petrie, "In The Tradition of Service," 2021. Digital Print.
What haunted Petrie was the "hidden" aspect of the over 250 Jewish women who served in the Canadian Armed Forces during the Second World War. She understands that many enlisted to help fight against the Nazi murder of the Jews but believes that they may have kept both their motivation and their Jewishness to themselves due to the antisemitism of the times. In the Tradition of Service honours these women by naming each of them, in their doubly suppressed identities, as women and as Jews. Emerging from the background layer are the names of Judaism’s biblical heroines, themselves often subordinated by patriarchal tradition to its male heroes. The biblical stories of female courage and consequence give context and depth to the contribution of these 20th-century Jewish soldiers, in whom the heroism of Jewish women lives on. Anne thanks Janice Shulman and Rabbi Lynn Greenhough for their assistance with this project.
Anne Petrie had a long career in broadcasting prior to beginning her work as an artist. Upon early retirement from CBC she returned to school obtaining a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Alberta College of Art and Design in 2008 and since then has had a number of exhibitions.
For more information on the listed servicewomen see