The Jew of Vilnius - Limited Edition of 50 Photograph

Like most Jews of my community in South Africa, we can trace our recent lineage to the lands of Eastern Europe. I know that my great great grandparents were from Vilnius, Lithuania, where they were forced to flee from prosecution. But sadly, I have little further information about their lives. I can only use my imagination to recreate what life must have been like for them. Unsurprisingly much of the Jewish folktales from this part of the world are centred around the darkness of winter. I think of the cold bitter winters and how spiritually trying that must have been for them – so distant from my experience at the sunny tip of Africa. The Torah contains numerous mentions of snow, which is often used as a metaphor for purity. The Maharal of Prague, Rabbi Judah Loew, spoke of snow as “a vessel of spiritual light in the darkest days of the year”. When thinking of how I wanted to portray the snow of Vilnius, I thought of the Hebrew word for snow – sheleg - which has a numerical (gematria) of 333, the same as the word shich'cha, which means forgetfulness. I could imagine snow as being an all-enveloping whiteness – a total absence of colour and texture and sound. I could imagine the small figure of my great great grandfather against this great barren landscape, and how incredibly important the Talmud must have been as a guiding light.

Photography:Black & White on Paper

Artist Produced Limited Edition of:50

Size:27 W x 20 H x 0.1 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.