{"id":41063,"date":"2023-04-14T01:53:45","date_gmt":"2023-04-14T08:53:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=41063"},"modified":"2023-04-17T09:30:58","modified_gmt":"2023-04-17T16:30:58","slug":"designing-the-12-tribes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2023\/04\/14\/designing-the-12-tribes\/","title":{"rendered":"Designing the 12 tribes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Artist Anna Marszalkowska stands in front of \u201cLevi,\u201d which is part of her Tribes series, which is on exhibit at the Zack Gallery until May 4. (photo from Anna Marszalkowska)<\/em><\/p>\n

The challenge of visually depicting the tribes of Israel has attracted many famous artists over the centuries. For example, on the 25th anniversary of the state of Israel, Salvador Dali, inspired by descriptions in the Torah, created a series of watercolours, \u201cThe Twelve Tribes of Israel.\u201d Before that, in 1962, Marc Chagall made his famous stained-glass windows, \u201cThe Twelve Tribes,\u201d for a synagogue in Jerusalem. Anna Marszalkowska, a local Vancouver artist of Polish origins, fits easily into this august company. Her solo show, The Tribes, opened at the Zack Gallery on March 29.<\/p>\n

Marszalkowska grew up in Poland, but studied graphic design and worked as a graphic designer in London, England. \u201cDiversity is what made my design path exciting,\u201d she said in an interview with the Independent<\/em>. \u201cI started my career as a freelance web and graphic designer and then moved to video design and editing, as well as motion graphics and animation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Five years ago, she and her husband moved to Canada, but they lived and worked in the eastern part of the country. They relocated to Vancouver two years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe came here during the pandemic,\u201d she said. \u201cWe wanted to try something different. For an outdoor person like myself, this is a great place. The nature is beautiful, and everyone is very friendly.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also changed the direction of her professional life. \u201cI work with artists in the movie industry, but not as an artist myself,\u201d she said. \u201cI understand artists because of my past as a graphic designer, but I wanted less time at the computer screen. I wanted to free my creativity for more personal projects, which was hard to do while working as a graphic designer. Then, my creativity was fully engaged in my professional activity, but, on the other hand, I was limited by clients\u2019 requirements. After a full day of work \u2026 I was often tired, I wanted to relax. Now, my creativity is freed. I have more time for my artistic experiments. I started abstract painting and I love it. Just me and a painting \u2013 it calms me.\u201d<\/p>\n

But even while working full time as a graphic designer, she still found energy to search for her individual style and themes. One of them was her Tribes series. \u201cIn 2010, I completed a print production course, and this series was the result.\u201d<\/p>\n

The series consists of 12 large digital prints, each one corresponding to one of the tribes of Israel. Although Marszalkowska\u2019s version is an entirely modern take, it involves ancient symbolism, which originated in the Hebrew Bible. The artist conducted deep research for this project, and the end results are simultaneously stunningly simple and visually compelling.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a blog before and, when I put the images online, many people expressed their interest. They wanted to buy one or several or all of the images.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the artist, this body of work has meaning beyond its commercial success. \u201cIt was a personal journey. I was searching for my Jewish ancestry. My grandmother grew up in a town in Poland where most citizens were Jewish before the war. She might have been part Jewish herself, but after the Holocaust, I had no one to ask.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead, she studied the Bible and tried to interpret the narratives within a cultural context. \u201cThe symbols of the tribes are by no means fixed,\u201d she explained. \u201cEvery artist could have their own interpretation, as the biblical texts describe the sons of Jacob allegorically.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her interpretation, the traditional symbols are given a contemporary, stylized appearance. \u201cI explored the relationship between geometric shapes and lines,\u201d she said. \u201cI used repetition and symmetry to keep balance in each individual design and all 12 together.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also leaned towards a minimalistic approach, where a symbol of the tribe is centred on a one-colour background, with no other embellishments to attract a viewer\u2019s attention. \u201cIn the original design, I had an ornamental frame around each image, but I got rid of them. I think less is more,\u201d she said. \u201cCOVID made me realize that my focus should be the meaning, not the decorations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\u201cBenjamin\u201d by Anna Marszalkowska.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In most images, the background colour palette reflects that of the tribe, except for Benjamin, the youngest. \u201cHis symbol is a wolf,\u201d Marszalkowska said. \u201cHe represents all colours of all tribes. To reflect that, I placed a \u2018rainbow\u2019 above the wolf. I think it is his spirit or maybe his song, Or his breath. It would depend on your own interpretation.\u201d<\/p>\n

In some of the designs, she incorporated photography for texture. \u201cI used Adobe Illustrator to combine my photographs with my digital illustrations,\u201d she said. For Simeon, her symbol is a tower, and she put her photos of bricks to good use in her pictorial tower construction. For Zebulun, whose symbol is a ship, she employed photos of water. \u201cIssachar\u2019s symbol is a donkey with a burden,\u201d she said. \u201cI used my photos of wood for the donkey\u2019s load.\u201d<\/p>\n

When different sources offered different visual symbolisms for a tribe, the artist\u2019s scholarly touch led her towards her own esthetic. For example, in the case of Levi, some documents don\u2019t count him as a tribe and don\u2019t offer any symbols for him. Historically, the Tribe of Levi wasn\u2019t given any land, but its men served as religious leaders and teachers. Maszalkowska decided that Levi\u2019s description as God\u2019s Chosen Tribe warranted its own image: a breastplate of a high priest. The breastplate is embedded with 12 gemstones, each inscribed with the name of one of the tribes in Hebrew.<\/p>\n

\u201cOverall, the series is an invitation for everyone to embark on their own journey, to reflect on their own purpose and fulfilment,\u201d said Maszalkowska. \u201cUltimately, I hope that my art will connect with the viewers and inspire them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tribes runs until May 4.<\/p>\n

Olga Livshin<\/strong> is<\/em> a Vancouver freelance writer. She can be reached at olgagodim@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Artist Anna Marszalkowska stands in front of \u201cLevi,\u201d which is part of her Tribes series, which is on exhibit at the Zack Gallery until May 4. (photo from Anna Marszalkowska) The challenge of visually depicting the tribes of Israel has attracted many famous artists over the centuries. For example, on the 25th anniversary of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41065,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[989],"tags":[22236,22235,7778,9159,5780,20520,218,2747,4582,40],"class_list":["post-41063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-visual-arts","tag-12-tribes","tag-anna-maszalkowska","tag-arts","tag-bible","tag-culture","tag-graphic-art","tag-judaism","tag-photography","tag-poland","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\/41063","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=41063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41063\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}