Collage Project

Class taken at UNC of Greensboro with Professor Maria Lim in the Spring of 2019.

Collage Project

Stereotyping and Prejudice Project - Andrea Geller

On the topic of stereotyping and prejudice, I selected Judaism and Jewish people. My father is Jewish, and I grew up around a number of Jewish holidays and families, of whom are dear to my heart still. Focusing on a particular point in Jewish history, I decided to do further research on a topic I had previously fixated upon during a Religion and Politics class: the German-Jewish Enlightenment. 

The Enlightenment as a whole obviously lasted from the late 1600s all the way until the early 1800s. In my previous class, we were assigned an excerpt from Batnitzky, a Princeton professor who studies religion and particularly Judaism. The work I read of hers discussed a number of debaters from the German Enlightenment period in the late 1700s. 

To summarize, Judaism had never really been labeled or defined as a religion, per se. However, the Jewish people had a general agreement of social norms, expectations, rituals, and behaviors.This proved significant when determining the labeling and identification of Jews, and in turn the nature of their relationship to other groups of society. Although Jews have always been unfairly held responsible for economic or political issues in many societies, during the Prussian regime in now-Germany, there was one Jew who sought rights for his people through a very unique method. 

Moses Mendelssohn (1729-1786) published his thoughts hoping to minimize Jewish scapegoating whilst refraining from stepping on Christians’ toes. Mendelssohn claimed that Jews deserved rights as citizens because their different behaviors (from Christians) did not necessarily equate to different political norms. He asserted that Judaism was neither a law nor a politic, but rather a religion, and such logical belief could actually complement the regime that was Prussia. (I consider literature as a form of art. However, I understand we are expected to select visual artists, and I have some up my sleeve as well.) 

After some research on Prussian politics during this time period, it appears that Mendelssohn was writing his works during a time period in which Jewish oppression was re-increasing. Starting in 1309, Jews had been banned from East Prussian property by the ruling knights, but such expulsion was rarely regulated. From the mid 1600s to late, acceptance of Jews was improving. However, when Frederick William I took power in 1713, he reinstated laws (taxes, commerce restriction, and prevention of familial inheritance) which were oppressive towards the Jewish population. 

            As if I couldn’t have been more obvious in my artist selection for my inspiration, Mark Rothko’s work (being a Jewish man) spoke to me in the context of this, albeit internal, discussion. To review: Jewish people have constantly been pushed from place to place. The labeling, or framework, of Judaism has always been imposed upon and manipulated by the Jewish people in order to further oppress or attempt to escape oppression, respectively. The culture and religion draw directly from inner peace of thyself for redemption and will to live. Thinking of these themes, and knowing Rothko’s work, I finally understood it. He’s talked about it, it’s been talked about, but I get it now. Rothko was not only painting about Jews, or about the struggle of Jews, but his paintings are a physical manifestation of Rothko’s inner meditative state. 

            So: how does that all have to do with my piece? You see the blocks of color, both the brown and the blue tones. The blocks are meant to be sensations, somewhat individual but also part of the whole. Their arrangement is actually in the very rough shape of the line graph which indicates Jewish population over time, mirrored horizontally.¹ The brown pieces horizontally positioned, as if lines, represent said time. The dark-to-light, left-to-right shading of the blue reflects the “Enlightenment” influential portion of the piece, as well as the idea that we as a Jewish people have continued to march out of a darkness for a very long time (and continue to today, seeing as even our progressive synagogues can have mass shootings in the United States)². 

            I also deem it significant to comment on why I decided to utilize a shape at all to form the blue transition. The shape of something, to me, is its framework. This framework I am referring to the labeling of what Judaism really means, or meant. It used to be considered a politic… But today, it is a religion. Does that not change everything? Jews had to accept the fact that their people will never be a consolidated nation because of worldwide oppression. Such acceptance eliminated the ideology that Judaism could be a law, or social structure. Nonetheless, behaviors persevered, and it is now considered a belief system. 

            As a personal note, the Jewish people in my life that have created the most impact are my father Lawrence Geller, and my honorary aunt and uncle, Ivan and Wendee Cutler. The three of them I often witnessed sitting at a desk for various reasons. Because historically Jews have been accountants, or otherwise taken up professions that handle money, I always envision a Jewish adult at a desk for those reasons. That is another factor that influenced the brown stripes -- to resemble wood. 

            After writing this reflection, I felt dissatisfied with my portrayal of the bigger picture. To be frank, my piece just wasn’t Jewish enough. It felt too stagnant to reflect the sense of marching from a darkness that is such an integral part of Jewish assembly (for holidays, events, etc.). And then it clicked to add the cut-out human-like shapes atop the original piece.  

            An insight of my process that I learned from this project is my sense of intuitive artistic acts based on developed knowledge. I do not like the original piece. It was too thought out, and I feel dissociated with it. Such dissociation implies a sense of emptiness, shallowness, as if the sentiment is false. That is why I felt obligated to add the second part: the cut-outs. They feel much truer to my message of “the shape of Judaism” than the original collage. However, without the original collage, the second half of it would be just as meaningless, if not a childish concept. Together, I now better understand to allow my intuition to flourish, especially if I have already garnered relatively extensive knowledge on the subject. 

            Another insight that I’ve gained through self-reflection is the fluidity of my process. When I have an idea, and it leads me to another idea, and another, and another… Oftentimes, I block this process out of the insecurity that I am merely getting distracted. Typically, though, that is rarely the case! Instead of these ideas leading me out of the bubble of thought that is my selected topic, I end up circling within the bubble, exploring all of my options. When I am true to myself, my creativity and innovation thrives! 

1. In 1800, the Jewish population was at about 7.8 million. From then until 1939, the population rose to 16.7 million, but dropped back down to 11 million in 1945. By 2017, it is back to 14.5 million, which is still double from two hundred years ago, but our global population has increased dramatically anyway. 
2. Pittsburgh shooting last year at “Tree of Life” synagogue (non-Orthodox, considered fairly progressive).