Arts Exhibition at Dr. Bernard Heller Museum

This year’s YNY Visual Arts Exhibition focuses on the portrait and how it reveals the history and significance of the individual it depicts. It is an invitation to establish a dialogue with the viewer, to engage with the sitter. The images tell stories, individual stories. To paraphrase the Mishnaic tractate of Sanhedrin: “(Saving) a single life is regarded as (saving) an entire world.” What are the worlds we are encountering in this exhibition? Who is this person? What is its background? What can we say back to it? How can we establish a connection with the subject? What can it teach us?

In this exhibition we encourage you to engage with the prompt ZOG MIR, VER BISTU? Tell me, who are you? – Jew? American? Lover? Musician? Humanist? Inhabitor of the Earth? We will feature a way for YOU to Zog mir, ver bistu with an interactive piece. Respond to a prompt and record your own portrait in our exhibition. Look deeply or on the surface – this is your chance to share with our community. Let’s see what comes out of it…

Location: Hebrew Union Collegeś Dr. Bernard Heller Museum (1 West 4th Street in Manhattan)
Opening Reception: Wednesday, December 20 from 4:30pm – 6:30pm (featuring a special performance at 5:30pm by renowned Yiddish singer Zhenya Lopatnik and guitarist Oren Neiman). Registration (free) is required for the Opening Reception CLICK HERE TO REGISTER.
Viewing Hours: Thursday, December 21 from 9:30AM – 5PM; Sunday, December 24 – Thursday, December 28 from 9:30AM-5:30PM.
Curated by Tine Kindermann & Deborah Ugoretz.

Images (clockwise from upper left) by Olga Hiiva, Phyllis Ruffer, Viktoriya Basina, and Nina Talbot.