{"id":27069,"date":"2017-12-01T04:00:50","date_gmt":"2017-12-01T12:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=27069"},"modified":"2017-11-29T22:09:51","modified_gmt":"2017-11-30T06:09:51","slug":"modern-ancient-jewish-tales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2017\/12\/01\/modern-ancient-jewish-tales\/","title":{"rendered":"Modern ancient Jewish tales"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cGolem,\u201d by Dina Goldstein. Pigment print on paper. 32 x 40 3\/8 inch. (\u00a9 Dina Goldstein)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Artist Dina Goldstein is a proven storyteller, so it\u2019s not surprising that she was asked to take part in the exhibit Jewish Folktales Retold: Artist as Maggid, which opened at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco on Sept. 28. Metro Vancouverites will also have the chance to see her photographic interpretations of 11 \u201cclassic Jewish tales\u201d \u2013 Snapshots from the Garden of Eden \u2013 at the Zack Gallery this month.<\/p>\n

Jewish Folktales Retold was inspired by the book Leaves from the Garden of Eden: One Hundred Classic Jewish Tales<\/em> by Howard Schwartz (Oxford University Press, 2008). As CJM executive director Lori Starr explains on the exhibit\u2019s website: \u201cSchwartz elucidates four varieties of these tales: fairy tales, folktales, supernatural tales and mystic tales. Fairy tales, he writes, are \u2018fantasies of enchantment.\u2019\u2026 Folktales \u2018portray the lives of the folk as they imagined them, with \u2026 magical and divine intervention.\u2019\u2026 Supernatural tales portray fears about the powers of evil entities and, finally, mystical tales are teaching stories of the great rabbis.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was asked to participate over a year and a half ago,\u201d Goldstein told the Independent<\/em>. \u201cAt first, I discussed this with the curator, Pierre-Fran\u00e7ois Galpin. At that time, I was planning on starting another series and I told Pierre-Fran\u00e7ois that I just couldn\u2019t take this on, as I saw it as quite an ambitious project.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, Goldstein was curious enough that she asked Galpin \u2013 who worked with CJM chief curator Renny Pritikin on the exhibit \u2013 to send her Leaves from the Garden of Eden<\/em> so she could take a look.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter receiving it,\u201d she said, \u201cI found that I really enjoyed reading these ancient stories. I told him that I could possibly photograph a few pieces as a contributing artist.<\/p>\n

\u201cI became intrigued by a few specific characters in the book and proceeded to take on more than I had anticipated at the beginning. I continued to photograph 11 pieces for the exhibit. I also decided to photograph the series in black-and-white large-scale tableau.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goldstein had free creative rein. \u201cThe museum did not give me any direction at all,\u201d she said. \u201cIn fact, I came back to them with the chosen characters and ideas that I had for the retelling of these folktales. They did not see the work until it was completed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Dina Goldstein was one of the artists whose work was commissioned by the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco for the exhibit Jewish Folktales Retold: Artist as Maggid. (photo from Dina Goldstein)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The characters Goldstein has reinvented for contemporary audiences include Lilith (from the story \u201cThe Queen of Sheba\u201d), Elijah (\u201cThe Cottage of Candles\u201d), Golem (\u201cThe Golem\u201d), King Solomon (\u201cThe King\u2019s Dream\u201d), the Princess in the Tower (in the story of the same name), the positive spirit Ibbur (\u201cThe Soul of the Ari\u201d), the malicious spirit Dybbuk (\u201cThe Dybbuk in the Well\u201d), the Tree of Life (\u201cAn Apple from the Tree of Life\u201d) and Ashmodai (\u201cThe Bride of Demons\u201d). She has also created an image inspired by the story \u201cThe Hair in the Milk.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI selected characters that were relevant and reappear throughout many of the tales in the collection,\u201d Goldstein told the Independent<\/em>. \u201cI chose characters from each of the four types of tales: folktales, fairy tales, supernatural and mythical tales.\u201d<\/p>\n

She created two images for Ashmodai.<\/p>\n

\u201cI very much enjoyed this narrative, \u2018The Bride of Demons,\u2019 with relevant themes of desire and retribution,\u201d said Goldstein. \u201cThe story is quite long, so I wanted to create a diptych to illustrate and interpret it in my own way.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Snapshots catalogue explains, \u201cA devil king, Ashmodai is mentioned in talmudic legends and Renaissance Christianity. He is regarded as the demon of lust and is responsible for twisting people\u2019s sexual desires.\u201d<\/p>\n

In one of the Ashmodai images, a woman in a bridal dress looks happily at herself in a half-length mirror; there are other mirrors in the room, which show her from different angles. In the second image, we see what looks like a garden, with the woman, buried, screaming, only her head and bridal veil above ground. The quote accompanying this disturbing scene is, \u201c\u2026 And he longed to look at her \u2026 but he remembered the words of the rabbi and did not turn his gaze away from the king of demons. If he had, he would have seen his bride buried in the earth up to her neck, for she was almost lost to the Devil.\u201d<\/p>\n

All of Goldstein\u2019s tableaux are striking, fascinating to explore and contemplate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI very much enjoyed uncovering these richly textured ancient tales and short stories, which include magnificent characters: kings and queens, princes and princesses, witches, mystics and malevolent wandering spirits,\u201d she said. \u201cEach of the characters face extraordinary challenges \u2013 placed in front of them by fate \u2013 that they must overcome. Every society is replete with myths and legends that transform and bend into parables that attempt to make order of life. It is this impact on culture, old and new, that led me to create a body of work that plays with satire, metaphor and irony.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goldstein\u2019s photographic creations challenge viewers\u2019 perceptions, asking them to reconsider the stories they\u2019ve been told. Her collections include Fallen Princesses, which imagines how 10 of Disney\u2019s princesses would face the challenges of real women; In the Dollhouse, which focuses on Ken and Barbie\u2019s not so happily ever after; Gods of Suburbia, which brings various deities down to earth; and Modern Girl, which looks at consumerism in Western culture using the imagery of Chinese pinup girls from the 1930s.<\/p>\n

The creative process for Snapshots from the Garden of Eden was similar to that of these previous works.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do my usual research online and then I hit the library for historical references,\u201d said Goldstein. \u201cI like to get a sense of how these characters have been depicted in art throughout history, what has been written about them from various sources. Many of these characters are actual historical figures. Others are supernatural and exist in various forms throughout the stories.\u201d<\/p>\n

It took her eight months to produce and photograph the series, she said. \u201cMuch of my work is in preproduction, organizing the cast and crew, the locations, and collecting all of the props and costumes and details that are germane to the final result of the piece.\u201d<\/p>\n

She concluded, \u201cI am very fortunate to live in the city which has so much talent to utilize. All of the cast and crew are from Vancouver. I reached out on Facebook and social media to find all sorts of strange items \u2013 people pulled together to help out. I am thankful to Gordon Diamond, who has been a great supporter of my work throughout the years. Gordon will donate the series for viewing at the Jewish Community Centre in December.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, because of that, local community members will have the chance to see Goldstein\u2019s work at the Zack. Snapshots from the Garden of Eden opens Dec. 14, 7 p.m., and runs until Jan. 20.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cGolem,\u201d by Dina Goldstein. Pigment print on paper. 32 x 40 3\/8 inch. (\u00a9 Dina Goldstein) Artist Dina Goldstein is a proven storyteller, so it\u2019s not surprising that she was asked to take part in the exhibit Jewish Folktales Retold: Artist as Maggid, which opened at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco on Sept. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27064,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[989],"tags":[4936,7624,218,2747,40],"class_list":["post-27069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-visual-arts","tag-dina-goldstein","tag-folk-tales","tag-judaism","tag-photography","tag-zack-gallery"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}