This project exhibits three labor intensive pieces that display my ongoing struggle being raised in a rigid orthodox Jewish household, and the resulting separation that I feel with members of my family. The catharsis of making these works has allowed me to simultaneously sort out and confront my emotions through the act of making, unpacking and displaying this confrontation through textiles —a shift that finally allowed me to sort out my relationships with my family and where I stand in terms of my Jewish beliefs.
The works unfold in a particular procession, starting with The Frustration of the Growing Girl. The contrast of the soft quilted cyanotypes with the jarring imagery of the rigid polaroids reflects the contradictory feelings of immense love and anger that has been clouding my relationship with my family. The reinvented Parochet (Torah Ark curtain), Modified Parochet, is a velvet wall of hard honesty, one side open to the world, and the other sheltered from change. Jess, is ok, floats above, a loving embrace of acceptance, not yet in reach but close.
