Happening

Bridge of Knots. Artist Helene Aylon has knotted together hundreds of women’s pillowcases with their dreams written upon them. They appear in the exhibit “Visual Politics: The Art of Engagement,” April 19-July 29 at the Katzen Center’s Sculpture Garden at American University. Aylon says the work “connotes the concept of hatzala—rescue—and it is women who will rescue this earth.” A portion of the Bridge of Knots also surrounds the “Earth Ambulance” as the permanent installation at the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art in Peekskill, NY.

american.edu/cas/katzen
harvestworks.org

Cabin Fever: Jewish Camping and Jewish Commitment, an exhibition for children and families, focuses on summer camps attended by Jewish Marylanders. Visitors to the replicated camp environment—complete with a campfire, bunk house, arts and crafts pavilion, waterfront, dining hall, and more—can create Jewish-themed arts and crafts projects, interact with Israeli staff, and sing Hebrew songs and participate in kabbalat shabbat services. The exhibit is meant to give a taste of “the transformative power of camp.” Curator Deborah Cardin explains, “Camp experiences are among the most positive Jewish experiences that young people can have.” Through February 2007 at the Jewish Museum of Maryland, in Baltimore.

Jewishmuseummd. org

Solos: New Design from Israel is the first museum exhibition of contemporary Israeli design in the U.S. It marks the 100th anniversary of Jerusalem’s Bezalel Art School and presents projects by 19 Israel-based designers who arc exploring the sculptural, material, functional and conceptual possibilities of “useful things.” Included are works by Ayala Serfaty, Zivia and Nati Shamia-Opher Through April 23 at the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum in New York.

cooperhewitt. org

Inspired by Miriam. When the poet Enid Dame died in 2003, she was editing a collection on the prophetess Miriam. Building on Dame’s essay, notes and poems, a special issue of the journal Bridges will be about this powerful and silenced woman. Editors are especially interested in work on Miriam that motivates tikkun olam, repair of the world, including portraits of historic and contemporary women activists, outcasts and healers. Submissions must be unpublished and original. Send duplicate copies and SASE for reply or submit via e-mail. Bridges, PO Box 1206, Ann Arbor, MI 48106. dare@bridgesjournal.org

Awake at Night is a therapeutic rehabilitation program for adolescents engaged in prostitution run by the nonprofit organization Elem Youth in Distress in Israel. The program, in Tel Aviv, offers a supportive day center, a hot line, community outreach, medical care and close contact with mentors and professionals. Last year they provided services to 95 girls, boys and transgender Jewish and Arab youth, including a dozen that were able to break away from prostitution, according to Dorit Fridman, director, as reported by Brenda Gazzar on women’s e-news. Elem Youth in Distress in Israel: elem.org/index_flash.html

Smallest Witnesses: The Crisis in Darfur Through Children’s Eyes. On a recent mission to the refugee camps along Darfur’s border with Chad, researchers Annie Sparrow and Olivier Bercault, of Human Rights Watch, gave children pens and crayons to draw while their families were being interviewed. Without any instruction or guidance, the children drew scenes from their experiences of the war in Darfur: attacks by the Janjaweed, bombings by Sudanese government forces, shootings, rapes, burning of their villages, and their flight to Chad. Images of animals and flowers depicting their ordinary village life were juxtaposed with horrible images of violence. The children insisted the researchers take their drawings with them in the hope that the rest of the world could see their story. This exhibition shares 17 of their powerful pictures —and the effect of this atrocity on its youngest witnesses. The drawings will be on display through April 2, concurrent with another exhibition tackling youth perceptions of tragedy, “Anne Frank: A History for Today,” running through May 28.

spertus.edu
hrw.org/photos/2005/darfur/drawings

NAVAH (Non-Profit Association for Volunteering and Assisting the Hurt) will be hosting a Passover gathering for the families of victims of Palestinian terror, including close relatives of those killed at a seder in 2002 at the Park Hotel in Netanya. “Despite the best intentions of the broader society, nobody can truly appreciate what these families are going through as well as others who have been forced to endure similar tragedies,” says Tehila Friedman, founder/director of NAVAH which was created to allow for the development of a supportive community amongst the victims themselves.

navah.org.il

I Was a Teenage Feminist. Why is it that young, independent, progressive women in today’s society feel uncomfortable identifying as feminists? A documentary film about redefining the “F-word” directed by Therese Shechter asks: Has feminist become a dirty word?

trixiefilms.com

Israeli photographers and artists go beyond “issues of contested politics and political identity” in “The Art of Living: Contemporary Photography and Video from the Israel Museum.” Selected artists include: Idit Greenberg, Michal Heimann, Noel .labbour, Vardi Kahana, Hanna Saar. Naomi Salmon, Tal Shochat, and Noa Zayit. April 4-July 30 at the Contemporary Jewish Museum of San Francisco. jnisf.org

Manos Bendichas (Ladino for “blessed hands”) is a Jewish women’s art group in Bulgaria that recreates traditional crafts typical of Sephardi Jews of the Balkans. It was established in 1996 by Lidia Yulzary, a knitting designer, Juliana Farhi, an embroidery designer and art therapist and Madlena Bally an economist and manager o f the group. The project is the primary means of support for 85 Jewish women in Bulgaria. You can order their kippot, challah covers for Shabbat and Rosh Hashana, matzoh pockets for Pesach, Tu b’shvat bags and, women’s “ritual shawls” and place special orders. Manos_Bendichas@shalom.org

Women’s e-news is a source of independent journalism covering stories and events that impact women—you can subscribe free at womensenews.org

Women’s Media Center offers news on women, links to women columnists, bloggers and media organizations.

womensmediacenter.com

Letters to Sala: A Young Woman’s Life in Nazi Labor Camps. At age 16, Sala Garncarz entered the Nazi labor camp system, where she was imprisoned from 1940 to 1945. She was able, amazingly, to save 300 letters sent to her by friends and family from outside and within the camps. The letters document the harsh consequences of the Nazi slave labor system and reflect Sala’s relationship with people such as Ala Gartner, one of four women hanged in Auschwitz after participating in an armed rebellion. The letters are documentation of Nazi atrocities written by the victims of those events during the time they were unfolding. They were recently donated by Sala’s daughter, Ann Kirschner, to the New York Public Library’s Dorot Jewish Division and are on display through June 17, 2006.

nypl.org/research/calendar/exhib/hssl/hss lexhibdesc. cfm ?id=410

Eta Wrobel fought against the Nazis as a Jewish partisan in Poland. She is featured on a Jewish resistance fighter sticker. Learn more about her and other heroic Jewish fighters during World War II at Jewishpartisans. org.