A stamp for Hanukkah

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As an art director at the United States Postal Service, graphic designer Antonio Alcalá ’83, ’85MFA, has designed postage stamps on subjects ranging from hip-hop to a solar eclipse. One of his most recent designs had a particular personal resonance: the 2024 Hanukkah stamp. “My mother escaped Nazi Germany on the Kindertransport. Many of her family members did also survive, including my grandparents,” Alcalá told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “So when I was a child, we would celebrate multiple holidays, including Hanukkah, and as the youngest of three boys, I was the one who always got to light the first candle.” The stamp features a menorah with flames, but the candles aren’t visible. “They’re implied,” he said. “And to me, that sort of alludes to this sort of aspect of faith.”