Thanking for the Soul and the Lightening (PL/EN)

27.06.2024 - 18:00 / Festival Tent, ul. Józefa 36

In the liturgy of the Jewish Shabbat, feast days as well as everyday “thank you” and “be blessed” stand side by side and essentially express the same thing. Gratitude, blessing and praise of the Most High are uttered in one breath. They praise the Creator for making the world with all its elements, from the cosmos to the tiniest herb; for the Shabbat and the giving of the Torah, for the miracle of the Sea of Reeds and the miracle of Hanukkah. Blessings accompany work, meals, studying the Torah and fulfilling the commandments, mornings, dusk and enjoying the gifts of nature.

The words of the ritual are reflected in ritual art: the decoration of objects made of silver, fabrics, verses painted on the walls and vaults of synagogues. I follow this trail in my cut-out collages, in which I draw on the heritage of old Jewish cut-outs and – more broadly – on the visual tradition in which words and images combine and intertwine, and the letter is sometimes used as an artistic material. The presentation will be illustrated by my works, containing thankful blessings which are alive in the liturgy.

Monika Krajewska