She's actually not very big. In fact, Sonia Warshawski was barely tall enough to see over the steering wheel of her big pink, boat-like Oldsmobile when she was still driving. The car that had the fuzzy faux leopard print steering wheel cover. The car she drove back and forth to work at her tailor shop in Overland Park, Kansas every day even when she probably shouldn't have been driving at all. The car she parked in a no parking zone each morning.
But that's Sonia. By all accounts, she shouldn't have walked out of the concentration and death camps in Central Europe or survived the death march she was forced to take upon dong so. She shouldn't have lived through the accidental gunshot she took to the chest or the devastation of watching her mother file into a gas chamber and never come out.
Some years ago, Leah Warshawski (Sonia's granddaughter) and her partner Todd Soliday decided to make a film about the short, feisty, indefatigable woman. Sonia was running her shop, John's Tailoring, in a defunct mall and was facing eviction. It made for a great story arc and a perfect way to tell the tale of a true survivor.
I was lucky enough to get the gig as still photographer for the movie, which is titled "Big Sonia." If you haven't seen it, I suggest you pull up Vimeo on Demand and watch it today!
I had known Sonia for years, because she's the aunt of dear friends, and I had photographed her for a book about Kansas City's Holocaust survivors. But I got the privilege of coming to know her much, much better during the making of "Big Sonia." To say this badass of a woman has since served as an inspiration would be quite the understatement.
I followed Sonia around during the making of the movie. I saw her in action at the shop, at her home, in her garden, with her family, in her kitchen, with her adoring fans, at film festivals and during down time. I tried to capture her essence. Who she was in front of a crowd or the film crew, and who she was when no one else was watching.
Today is Sonia's 100th birthday. I thought it'd be a good time to share some of my favorite photos of her. I wrote about Big Sonia and shared photos, as well as the trailer for the film on my blog post of 04/28/2024. There are some different images here, including some from the shop.
At 4'8", this amazing human bring was/is a force to be reckoned with. Definitely someone to look up to.
