Judaism

I have been researching the Jewish faith and have attempted to convey some of the ideas and information that I have discovered through this mood board.  The main themes that I want to get across are the idea of sorrow juxtaposed with joy and the importance of community in the Jewish faith.  Judaism places great importance on interactions within a community, for example many prayers require the presence of ten adults, a minyan. The idea of true joy always being mixed with sorrow is also an important teaching. In the wedding feast, the breaking of the glass originally symbolises the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem.

I have used imagery from the holocaust as the basis of this piece. The background picture is a photograph of piles of spectacles taken from the Jews in Auschwitz along with a photograph of the stolen suitcases. Across the top is a photograph of the infamous slogan of Auschwitz; ‘Arbeit macht Frei.’ I have overlaid this with a painting of a prayer in Hebrew which is decorated with flowers.  I have layered the flowers over the top to blur the Holocaust imagery somewhat, giving the impression of the sorrow being in the past. The flowers bring to mind rebirth and the growth of something new.

I want to convey the idea of joy and strong community in the foreground. I feel that the photo and the painting of the men dancing together are strong and joyful images. In Judaism, dancing is a tool for expressing joy, purifying the soul and unifying the community. On the left is a Jewish wedding contract (a Ketubah) with a picture of an orthodox Jewish couple incorporated on to it. This is to highlight the importance of marriage in Judaism. The Ketubah is also a traditionally highly decorated object and is a way to show traditional Jewish artistic style.

To the bottom left is a painting of the western wall in Jerusalem by the artist David Yohanan. The picture layered over the top is a photograph of Jewish men praying at the wall. I have included this reference to convey the importance of Jerusalem in the Jewish faith and also the centrality of prayers and religious observance.

I have I incorporated other recognisable symbols of Judaism including the Star of David, the hand of Fatima. The fashion photograph on the left is a from a KTZ collection which used the Jewish faith as inspiration for their style.

The majority of colour in the piece is dictated by the colour of the clothing which is black and white. The other colour comes from the decorated wedding contract and prayer which are bright and natural colours such as blues and greens and yellows. Gold is also used in moderation. In the Jewish faith, the decoration of ritual objects is seen to be a way of glorifying God and as such, religious objects are often beautifully and intricately decorated.

The painting of the western wall uses micrography to form the bricks of the wall. Micrography is a traditional art form in Judaism as many Jews believe that the second commandment forbids them from creating images. The second commandment declares; ‘You shall not make for yourself a sculptured image or any likeness of anything that is in the heavens above or in the earth below. Conveying these images using words is a way of getting around this rule.

All the information that I have gathered is taken from the internet. I have used four paintings from the Israeli artist David Yohanon who specialises in the decorating of religious objects and calligraphy. I have used one ink drawing by the artist Michael Levin who takes inspiration from the Hassidic Jewish community. The painting of the dancing men is by the artist Zalman Kleinman. The remaining images are photographs taken from the internet.

I am generally very happy with the outcome of the mood board as I feel that it expresses the ideas that I wish to convey. If I were to change anything it would be to use a wider variety of sources, media and artists. I think that I have used too many images from the same artist and all of my sources are secondary sources; more variety would be better.  In my opinion, the most effective part of the piece is the background which conveys meaning as well as creating an attractive image in itself.