Transcendence series and Yahrzeit
exhibited in Yarns: Jewish stories from emerging artists,
Jewish Museum of Australia, Nov 2001 - Feb 2002.
Digital plan prints on drafting film and sandblasted glass, 2001,
prints: 225 x 91 cm; glass dimensions variable.

My Yahrzeit piece was made in response to the Museum's brief for the Yarns exhibition, inviting artists to explore the Jewish tradition of storytelling. The 'Transcendence' prints, a component of my current Masters of Fine Arts project at the UNSW, were shown together with the Yahrzeit glasses. Both works deal with the Jewish concepts, rituals and symbols relating to death, mourning and the afterlife.

The motivation for producing the glasses was of a personal nature, to tell the story of my mother's passing. A 'Yahrzeit' is the anniversary of the death of a near relative (particularly of a parent). On this anniversary a special memorial candle, which burns for twenty-four hours, is placed in a glass and lit. It's based on the idea that 'the soul of man is the lamp of God' (Prov 20:27).

The Kaddish, prayer for the dead, is also recited at this time.
I've worked the Yahrzeit glass, the vessel which facilitates this ritual, to embody a narrative about the ritual itself.

Yahrzeit 6 sandblasted glasses, 2001, detail: 9.7x7.5cm

There are six glasses in the installation. Five are placed close together following a narrative which works its way from the outside to the centre. The sixth glass stands slightly apart. The imagery sandblasted around the glasses are lit from behind and projected through to the front of the glass, apparition-like. The projected images form compositions with the non-projected images.

Within the set of five the two outer glasses depict gates slightly opened. Gates are a much drawn on symbol in Jewish culture referred to in both Orthodox texts and the Kabbalah - a branch of Jewish mysticism. They reference religious ritual and act as a metaphor for transition.

The following two glasses, which flank the central piece, join to depict a pair of hands hovering over a five-stemmed Sabbath, (Shabbat), candelabra. This image has been taken directly from an old Jewish Romanian headstone to represent the grave of a righteous woman as she tends to the lighting the candles to usher in the Sabbath. I chose this image because lighting the candles on Friday nights is one of the resonating images I have of my mother and 'home'. The Hebrew letters Peh and Nun, which I placed inside the hands, are commonly inscribed into headstones. It's an acronym for Poh Nikbar, literally, 'here lies buried'.

The central glass depicts two lions flanking a crown. It's taken from a 17th century Belgian bible (Torah) cover. The crown, (keter), represents God, the 'king of kings', synonymous with the idea of 'highest knowledge' and 'light'. The lions guard the Torah. The sixth glass, slightly separated from the others, again projects the Hebrew letter Nun, the first letter of the word Nefesh meaning soul, to imply transition.

Gates, which have been a part of Jewish art since ancient times, can both offer and deny entry. They are a recurring image in both the Yahrzeit glasses and Transcendence prints which utilise binaries: black - white and darkness - light, evoking associations with presence - void, beckoning - denial.

Apart from their architectural function which led to their use in the facade of the synagogue, gateways were also an intrinsic motif on the Holy Ark, which contained the Torah scrolls. Historian, Ida Huberman, explains that the 'gate', as a Jewish symbol, derives from universal traditions dating back to the ancient East:

"The ancient arts of the Mediterranean area regarded the simple architectonic form of the gateway as a cosmic symbol representing change. Pagan arts had depicted gods returning to earth through gateways, and kings were positioned within them as a sign of their desire for eternal life. ... It stood for the transition from the real to the unknown, the infinite and the mysterious. ... By extension, it also came to be associated with the transition from darkness to light ... from the corporeal to the spiritual. ...

In the Temple and synagogues, the transition represented by the gateway stood for the spiritual transition from the secular to the sacred. As an element which allowed the light to penetrate into the building, the gateway also symbolised light. The Ark was also regarded as a means of reaching the light of the Torah, its sanctity and its spirituality. ... The engraved gateways and pillars on the sarcophagi served as a bridge between life and death. In all of these, the gateway was conceived as a symbolic transition.

Within a contemporary framework, these works reference traditional cultural/religious symbols to explore Judaism's concepts regarding death and afterlife, but also reflect a personal expression of mourning.

Reference

A. Unterman, Dictionary of Jewish Lore and Legend, Thames and Hudson, 1997. p. 206

Rabbi M. Lam, The Jewish Way in Death and Mourning; Rabbi N. Scherman, The Complete Artscroll Machzor for Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement); Adin Steinsaltz, The Thirteen Petalled Rose; Rabbi L. Wolf, Practical Kabbalah.

Ida Huberman Living Symbols: Symbols in Jewish Art and Tradition Massada, 1988. pp. 13-15, 43-44, 53.