The JCC is featuring three inter-related shows in the Patio Gallery, the new Lobby Gallery, and the lobby, and there was an opening reception for all three on Sunday, January 11.
The Patio Gallery features the work of New York-based textile artist, Laurie Wohl who was in Louisville for the opening and gave a PowerPoint presentation explaining her work and techniques.
Wohl interweaves Muslim, Jewish, and Christian poetry and spiritual texts from the period of the Convivencia in Spain (the 8th-15th centuries) and from contemporary Middle Eastern poets, particularly Palestinian and Israeli. Her work emphasizes the striking parallels between Arabic and Hebrew texts, rich in poetry of spiritual love, of exile, of nostalgia for Andalusia and of enemies and reconciliation.
Her hope for the project is that its visual and auditory components will make obvious the connections between the Abrahamic religions and stimulate reflection on shared emotional, aesthetic and thematic content.
Wohl uses unwoven canvas, textured papers, and other materials embellished with Arabic and Hebrew, as well as some Greek and English, calligraphy which, along with her own personal iconography, also references the iconography of the veil.
An audio component available on iPods consists of readings in English, Arabic, and Hebrew of the poems and spiritual texts contained in her work. The Arabic and Hebrew are then interwoven to create a “soundscape” illustrating the commonality of the Middle Eastern languages.
On view in the new Lobby Gallery are photographs by Terry Taylor, outgoing executive director of the Interfaith Paths to Peace. These photographs are part of his show “A Pilgrim’s Lens,” which reflect Taylor’s “sometimes sacred, sometimes secular spiritual journeys around the U.S. and the world.
Also in the lobby is a public art project called Peace Postcards, founded by Allan Weiss. The goal of this project is to encourage people to think about peace and what it means for the future of the world.
All three shows run unil February 24.