Y的諾曼E. 亞歷山大猶太人生活中心自豪地介紹我們是誰: 價值觀徒步之旅, 每月展示代表不同人道主義價值的當地藝術家.
這是我們的目標, 在 COVID-19 的現實中, 推廣當地藝術家，並為北曼哈頓社區提供接觸藝術的機會. 雖然通常我們希望在 Y 的牆壁上展示這種藝術, 與當前與 COVID 相關的限制, 我們的目標是將當地藝術家帶到我們社區的街道上.
一月: Justice
‘Isabella’
Solvent Transfer on Watercolor Paper, 2017
By Linda Smith
lindacsmith.com | instagram.com//laughing_linda
Linda Smith is an artist and art educator, who started a non-profit organization while living in Kigali, Rwanda, called the TEOH Project, which provides cameras and art classes to children in Rwanda, Ghana, and the Bronx. She has been commissioned by the United Nations to provide photography classes to survivors and former perpetrators of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. She earned her BA from Syracuse University, MA in Communications at Goldsmith College at the University of London, and MFA from the University of Connecticut. Her work has been exhibited in the United Nations, embassies, and universities.
蓋爾·科恩的策展人筆記
galcohenart.com | instagram.com/galshugon
‘Isabella’ is a mixed-media work showcasing a 1911 young immigrant from Italy to the US. It’s part of the series “Sojourners,” where Smith manipulates archival photographs of family members who immigrated from Italy to the US to echo the cross generational complexities that are inherited to the process of Immigration. The haunted look on Isabella’s face and the ghostly reflection of her image speaks to the rooted conflict and collective memory of the migration and immigration movements — the vulnerability and displacement, along with the reinvention of life itself, embedded with hopes for a safer, brighter future. Questions of justice, equality, and human rights are key to processes of migration and immigration around the world, as the wide range of by-choice migrants, through refugees and asylum seekers reveal the built-in inequality in contemporary societies, especially amidst the current global refugee crisis.
Justice
拉比阿里佩爾滕, 諾曼·E. 亞歷山大猶太生活中心主任
Justice is at the center of the American myth. The average school day begins with a recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in which students declare the US to be one nation… “with liberty and正義 for all.” Though this mantra is so regularly repeated, our lived experience often indicates that正義 is, perhaps, not always the reality which we experience, but rather a dream towards which we aspire.
The classic image of正義 (based on the Roman goddess of Justice, Iustitia) is ablindfolded woman with a set of scales in one hand and a sword in the other. This representation plays on the concept of sight asserting that正義 needs to be impartially applied without regard to wealth, power, or any other status. In theMidrash Tanhuma (Shoftim 8:1), we are reminded, “When the judge sets his heart on a bribe, he becomes blind to justice and is unable to judge [a case] honestly.” Justice must be directed without the imposition of external factors. When sight is allowed, it clouds judgement, distancing正義 from its appropriate application.
有趣的是, in the book ofDeuteronomy (22:1-3) there is an explanation as to the application of正義 in the return of lost property that also utilizes the image of sight. The final verse insists, “and so too shall you do with anything that your fellow loses and you find: you may not hide yourself.” The medieval French commentator, Rashi, remarks on this final injunction, “You must not cover your eyes, pretending not to see it.” Here, playing on this same theme of sight, Rashi insists that正義 can only occur when we actively pursue sight, removing any blindfolds that might limit the ability to see.
As our country continues to struggle with the concept of正義, we must each ask, what is my understanding of正義?
