Identity Frame-Up Word from: Jake

I haven't been to New York's Jewish Museum since the Jewish Women's Salons exhibit, and haven't had a blast there since Modigliani. Who's got the time for museums with final papers coming up? But, I received a book a from YUP with essays, interviews and photography about their current collaboration called The Jewish Identity Project.

The project brings together a sizable group of photographers, working with definitions of contemporary American Jewery. I'm going to say the obvious: to define a group is to outline it's borders; mainstream is contained somewhere between these borders. What are the margins of the community today? In this exhibit, the subject of race is perhaps the most prominent: lots of Jews of all races. Some superb photos of Commandment Keepers' Congregation in Harlem. Conversion, too resurfaces in a number of works: there's the bleary black-and-white photo story of "Carmen" who enters the hard-core Orthodox community a-la Boro Park. Both very eerie and emotionally stirring. Not surprisingly, a good number of photos showing peyos'd children with tzitzis sticking out of their shorts. That's classic: what a great exotic attraction, religious Jews! (Though, I must admit, I, too once had a similar urge to photograph every little mundane move and gesture of inhabitants of Tzfat.) One photographer deals specifically with stereotypes, baking them, exaggerating to the point of grotesque.

There's some kitch, but on the whole, lots of strong, interesting material. One thing I wondered about, why there was no work dealing with rare (marginal) professions of American Jews - sailors, carpenters, concept artists, philosophers? And, in general, why does the identity definition need to be so outter, so visual? That, in itself is already a statement about identity, no?