You have virtually no rights if you don’t own land. This has been reinforced in era of history. These works are a conversation between that legacy through reimagined New England barn quilts.
“We will outlive them” draws from the profound Yiddish phrase that emerged when Lublin’s Jewish community transformed a prayer into defiance against Nazi oppressors during World War II. This phrase has become a powerful slogan of protest, resilience, and solidarity.
This piece is deeply personal, as I see parallels between historical struggles and contemporary challenges. Through deliberate tensions between zionism and authentic solidarity, I’ve sought to express how resistance often exists in plain sight and remains offensive to oppressors.
Like the phrase itself, now adopted by progressive Jewish communities as a rallying cry, my painting stands as a declaration that mutual aid and love will ultimately outlast oppressive systems.
This says “tikkun olam”, which means repair the world in Hebrew, transliterated in Russian. Russian was widely spoken alongside Yiddish by the diaspora pre 1948.
Along with repairing the world, Yiddish speaking Jews valued the principle of “doikayt” which means “hereness”. This philosophy emphasized building relationships and working together with local communities wherever Jewish people lived, rather than seeking a separate homeland. A well-preserved Yiddish poster from the Jewish Labor Bund in Kiev can be translated to “wherever we live, that’s our country!”
As a diasporic person, I identify a lot with hereness.