Under the current political conditions, Jewish heritage is symbolically and literally at risk. Jewish ritual objects, once central to communal and spiritual life across Europe, have now been stripped of their function and vitality. Confined to archives, museums or held in Israel, these objects are detached from the communities they served in the past. This project interrogates the imperial roots of Judaica, questions their transformation into artefacts and explores possibilities for their reanimation among Jews living outside the Zionist framework as minorities across the Diaspora. Through drawing, these objects are, for the time being, re-appropriated, creating a communal space in which reflection on the socio-political, cultural and material conditions of Jewish objects and life in Berlin and the European Diaspora can take place.
Hagar Ophir is a multidisciplinary artist based in Berlin.
