![\"photo](\"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/jan-23-cov.23.DINA-GOLDSTEIN-C.jpg\")
<\/a>\u201cI spent the pandemic going through containers of binders filled with negatives. Many of the images I remember snapping, but others that I found surprised me,\u201d Goldstein told the Independent<\/i>. \u201cEditing the lot after 30 years of shooting was overwhelming at first. The process of archiving is slow and fastidious, often challenging my expeditious nature. I leaned in, not knowing how long or how many images I would be working with. Within two years, I scanned, photographed, numbered, printed and added over 3,000 images to a boxed and digital archive. The result left me relieved that my life\u2019s work was now organized in a way that was documented and accessible.\u201d<\/p>\n
The word \u201cherculean\u201d is used in The Archive XXX<\/i> to describe the task of creating the archive. Goldstein worked by year of creation, grouping the images by decades.<\/p>\n
\u201cI started with the early \u201990s, when I first started my career and shot with black-and-white film,\u201d she said. \u201cMany of those images I had photographed for the Jewish Western Bulletin<\/i>, my first job as an editorial shooter. I had special opportunities to meet and photograph many great people, like Elie Wiesel, Seth Rogen, Liz Taylor, Ruth Westheimer, Mordecai Richler, Jackie Mason, Bill Clinton.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the 2000s, I was working as a commercial and editorial photographer. I photographed mostly in colour and did some experimentation with processes. This is when I began crafting series of photographs. I spent two years at Hastings Racetrack and created Trackrecord. I expanded on my staged portraits with DAVID.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBy 2006, digital photography was introduced as consumer cameras. Art directors were passing along assignments to less-qualified shooters and\/or having the writer also take the pictures. I felt that I needed to pivot,\u201d Goldstein said, adding that, by then, she was also a new mother and things in general were shifting.<\/p>\n \u201cIn 2007,\u201d she said, \u201cI began to focus on a new series inspired by my toddler daughter, who suddenly became obsessed with Disney princesses. This was a new way of creating narrative within my imagery. The series was a critical success, giving me the confidence to continue with this methodology.\u201d<\/p>\n Although Goldstein mentions the making of her tableaux projects in The Archive XXX<\/i>, she decided not to include the staged works within the compilation. \u201cThis is also because I continued enthusiastically photographing street, documentary and portraiture,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Over the 2010s, Goldstein was invited to show her work internationally at galleries, photo festivals and museums, and traveled extensively \u2013 to Europe, India, China, Korea, Taiwan, New Zealand and Australia. \u201cSo many of The Archive<\/i> images come from my travels around the world,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The Archive XXX<\/i> ends at the start of the pandemic, in the early 2020s. Of course, she has continued to create. Last fall, she presented a new staged photography series: Mistresspieces. Each of the 10 works features a famous female portrait from history placed in a modern-day challenge. For example, the goddess of Sandro Botticelli\u2019s \u201cThe Birth of Venus\u201d floats alongside a beach piled with the life jackets of those who have fled to European shores and Salvador Dal\u00ed\u2019s \u201cGalatea at the Moment of Creation\u201d has Galatea surrounded by Amazon packages and melting icebergs in Goldstein\u2019s reimagining.<\/p>\n Mistresspieces is Goldstein\u2019s eighth tableaux series, including Fallen Princesses.<\/p>\n \u201cThe idea for Fallen Princesses came to me intuitively, when I realized the way that Disney was influencing my daughter,\u201d she explained. \u201cI decided to select well-known female fairytale characters and parachute them into modernity. I gave them all relatable challenges that play out within a familiar location. The methodology, production-based, was novel, as I no longer just depended on myself and my camera. This format is more collaborative and filmic, with lighting as an intricate skill. Thankfully, the project was successful online, in the media and in education. So, I discovered that I could still create critical work, with specific messaging amplifying my voice in the form of visual social commentary\u2026. Now, in light of AI and the quick accessibility of image-making, I am looking to the future, making some tough decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n Goldstein recognized the power of images at a young age.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a child, I would go through my grandmother\u2019s photographs for hours at a time,\u201d she said. \u201cThe postcard-like black-and-white photos of her, as a young woman in Romania, were not only beautiful but a window into her life. I would stare at an image and take it all in, her outfit, her shoes, the people she was with, the buildings behind her. Within these images, I discovered people and places throughout the decades of her life. As an adult, I have kept my camera beside me, just in case, it was a compulsion of sorts. I wanted to make pictures that would tell the story of my life as well. Perhaps not as the subject, but as the narrator. Today, mostly everyone suffers from the same need, with the readiness and ease of using a smartphone camera to document or to create an image.\u201d<\/p>\n In The Archive XXX<\/i>, there are photographs of such a diverse range of people, from presidents to Pride paraders, the famous and the often-overlooked. That Goldstein is comfortable around people, no matter who they are, is partly because of her father.<\/p>\n \u201cMy father was a very charismatic figure,\u201d she said. \u201cHe was a product of the Second World War, uneducated but street smart. He was able to connect with people, all sorts of people. I understood that there is always something that you may have in common with another person. That\u2019s a good starting point.\u201d<\/p>\n Travel has also contributed to Goldstein\u2019s ease around almost everyone in almost every situation.<\/p>\n \u201cTraveling as a young person allowed me to open up to others, and trust that most folks are good people,\u201d she explained. \u201cMy positive experiences as a young photographer were foundational for what the next three decades would bring, working with various diverse personalities. Becoming a mother made me more cautious with my assignments and travel. I certainly didn\u2019t take as many chances or put myself in danger while my girls were little. I remember traveling in India and Colombia, both places I had to be extra aware.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIn general, I find that society is complex and divided. This became super-evident during the pandemic, and recently after Oct. 7, 2023. I was able to photograph the anti-vaxxer gang, where bizarre people came out of the woodwork. The Free Palestine bunch includes some of these types, and also an element of proud antisemites. When they first rallied, in big crowds, holding up signs \u2018From the River to the Sea\u2019 down Commercial Drive, I photographed it, slightly shocked, slightly sickened. I decided then that I could not personally or professionally continue to be there as a witness to this open hatred.\u201d<\/p>\n A lot changed for Goldstein after Oct. 7, she said. \u201cLosing friends that were once close, making new friends (mostly Jewish), actively fighting against anti-Jewish\/Israel sentiment in my East Van neighbourhood and within the Vancouver arts community. This leads to the next chapter of my career, where I will focus more on my Jewish\/Israeli identity and Ashkenazi Jewish heritage.\u201d<\/p>\n Goldstein has written a TV series called Grimm Lane<\/i>, which is based on Fallen Princesses. She is creating a new book with her narrative series Storyography and is also working on the TV series The Tribe<\/i>, which is based on three Jewish families living in Toronto.<\/p>\n For more about The Archive XXX<\/i>, Goldstein\u2019s tableaux series and other work, visit dinagoldstein.com<\/a>. To attend her JCC Jewish Book Festival talk, register at jccgv.com\/jewish-book-festival-events\/feb-12<\/a>. The event is free to attend.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cElaborate Pride Costume, Gay Pride,\u201d Vancouver, 1996. (\u00a9 Dina Goldstein) One of the JCC Jewish Book Festival pre-festival events holds special meaning for the Jewish Independent. Photographer Dina Goldstein, whose artistry has focused on large-scale narrative tableaux the last many years, began her career with the JI\u2019s predecessor, the Jewish Western Bulletin. She has compiled […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48227,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[784],"tags":[5555,2466,4936,9857,2747,3597,9011,2084],"class_list":["post-48225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","tag-archives","tag-art","tag-dina-goldstein","tag-jcc-jewish-book-festival","tag-photography","tag-politics","tag-social-commentary","tag-travel-2"],"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\/48225","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=48225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/a>