Artists Emily Bogin and Laura Puras come together in the gallery to offer insights into their works Self-Portrait As Beloved and Muted Tefillah, exhibited side-by-side in the "Divine” section of the California Jewish Open. These artworks each offer nontraditional and feminist explorations of the ritual of tefillin—a Jewish practice, traditionally limited to men, of taking two small boxes containing Torah passages connected to leather straps and tying them to one's arms and forehead on days other than the Sabbath and holidays—and tefillah, or prayer. Bogin, a Bay Area artist with a master's degree in theological studies from Harvard Divinity School, uses her work to examine how secular modernity shapes identity and the experience of being seen. Puras, a Spaniard/American Orthodox Jew, neuropsychology educator, and artist, infuses her art with her background as a poet and composer, bringing a personal and spiritual lens to Jewish ritual. Join the artists as they come into conversation with one other to explore their artistic practices and interpretations of Jewish tradition.
This program is part of the series Connecting with Jewishness through Art, a monthly series of gallery programs with artists featured in the California Jewish Open, discussing how their artistic practice expresses their Judaism or Jewish identity. At each program, two artists will come together in conversation with each other, the artwork, and the audience to provide context and insights into the complexities of their artwork.
Emily Bogin is a Bay Area artist whose work explores how secular modernity structures the self. Using a range of media, she asks what it means to be seen by another. Bogin holds a Masters in Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School.
Spaniard/American Laura Puras is an Orthodox Jew, neuropsychology educator/coach, freelance artist, poet, and composer.
The Museum’s first major open call exhibition invited Jewish-identifying artists in California to submit artworks in response to a central question: How are artists looking to the many aspects of Jewish culture, identity, and community to foster, reimagine, hold, or discover connection? The resulting exhibition brings together the work of forty-seven artists reflecting on their connection to Judaism, the world, and their own history. Through a wide range of media, including paintings, sculptures, interactive video games, video works, photographs, and more, the California Jewish Open illustrates some of the myriad ways in which these artists’ Jewish identity informs their connection to the world at large—and offers a window into the universal human need for connection in all its complexity.
Support for the California Jewish Open is generously provided by Judith and Robert Aptekar. The Contemporary Jewish Museum is supported in part by a grant from Grants for the Arts.
Laura Puras, Muted Tefillah (installation view) at The CJM. Photo: Genevieve Shiffrar.