A Fence Around The Torah:

Safety And Unsafety In Jewish Life

Painting with a white background and a black person with gold necklaces, blue shirt, yellow headband, curly black hair, and swatch of red paint over eyes. At bottom are black shapes with the word "Jewish." On top are words "Pending Validation."

Marisa Baggett, Are You Jewish?, Acrylic on canvas, 2021

 

A Fence Around The Torah: Safety And Unsafety In Jewish Life is a new art exhibit presented by the Jewish Museum of Maryland.

This multimedia exhibit explores how Jewish communities navigate the concepts of safety and unsafety in traditional, contemporary, and futuristic ways. The featured artists tap into ancestral and historical Jewish narratives, while imagining what safety, solidarity, and mutual aid mean in today’s world. The show focuses on how people who have been marginalized and excluded from Jewish institutional spaces experience physical and emotional harm and safety.

Works include personal reflections on queer life and Judaism, racial justice in Jewish spaces, cultural dialogues and political dissent, mythological narratives around unsafety, and dreams for inclusion and solidarity coming from within Jewish institutions and the organized Jewish community. The exhibit features video, sculpture, installation, painting, textile, poster art, poetry, and more.

Exhibit Sections

FEATURED ARTISTS

Exhibit Credits

THIS EXHIBIT HAS BEEN MADE POSSIBLE BY

The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore

Sandra D. Hess

PNC Bank

Marvin Pinkert Innovation Fund

JEWISH MUSEUM OF MARYLAND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Sol Davis

THIS PROJECT WAS CONCEPTUALIZED BY Liora Ostroff, who served as Curator-in-Residence at the Jewish Museum of Maryland from July 2021 through March 2022.

CURATED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH

Melissa Martens Yaverbaum, Executive Director, Council of American Jewish Museums

Maia Ipp, Co-Director, New Jewish Culture Fellowship

Ronit Muszkatblit, Senior Director Arts + Culture, LABA

Kendell Pinkney, Artistic Director, The Workshop at The Hendel Center, Jewish Theological Seminary of America

Justin Fair, lay leader with Jews of Color Mishpacha Project

WEB DESIGN BY

Liora Ostroff, Naomi Weintraub, and Mark Gunnery

EXHIBITION DESIGN

Danielle Nekimken

FABRICATION AND INSTALLATION

P&M Exhibits

THANK YOU TO

The Jewish Museum of Maryland team

EXHIBITIONS AT THE JEWISH MUSEUM OF MARYLAND ARE ALSO SUPPORTED BY THE FOLLOWING ENDOWMENTS:

Hoffberger Family Exhibition Endowment

Stanford Z. and Cory Rothschild Exhibition Endowment

Harry and Jeannette Weinberg Jewish Museum Fund