Alicia studied at St Martins School of Art in London and found that painting was a way to express the deep pain she felt over the loss of her family and her experiences during the Holocaust. These paintings are in dark colours and eloquently express the emotion she struggled to put into words. Later, many of her paintings used bright, vibrant colours, with flowers featuring often. Amongst these beautiful flower paintings are forget-me-nots, which grow by the rivers in Poland. Alicia states that she painted them as a pledge to her family and friends that she would not forget them or what happened to them.