LOST IN TRANSITION
Judith Brodsky has never been shy about tackling controversial issues. The printmaker has used her art to decry the environmentally corrosive effects of industrialization in New Jersey and to examine the struggle for gender equality in the curatorial profession.
In “Memoir of an Assimilated Family,” on display at the Aljira arts center, Brodsky looks inward, putting her Jewish heritage on display. Visitors to the exhibit have a chance to view more than 100 photos with captions telling her family’s history — a story that includes surviving pogroms in Ukraine, escaping the horrors of the Holocaust and immigration to the United States. She also incorporates simple pictures of family members including photos and glowing descriptions her father and glowing descriptions of him.
Brodsky’s work has been exhibited at more than 100 museums and permanent collections. She is professor emerita at Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts and the founding director of the Rutgers Center for Innovative Print and Paper.
Aljira, 591 Broad St., Newark, N.J.; Jan. 8-Mar. 31, $5 suggested donation. (973-622-1600 or www.aljira.org)
Why I became the Forward’s editor-in-chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
, editor-in-chief