Foreshortened Time- Every day Moments in Jewish Life

In October of 2023, time itself changed. What once stretched wide and ordinary suddenly collapsed into urgency. Every moment felt close, condensed, as if seen through a foreshortened lens — a lens of fear, of loss, and of profound awareness. As an artist and as a Jewish woman, I could not paint. My teacher, Melanie, urged me to paint what I felt. From that act of surrender came Early That Morning, and with it, the beginning of Foreshortened Time.

The title speaks to how these last two years have unfolded: time compressed by tragedy, life experienced in fragments of immediacy and reflection. Through this lens, I witnessed both persecution and perseverance. Yet paradoxically, the very closeness of that view — this foreshortening — brought my community nearer, bound us more tightly, and reaffirmed our faith. We became unbreakably Jewish.

Across eighteen paintings, I explored grief, unity, ritual, faith, and joy. I revisited the symbols that carried us — the ribbons, the empty chairs, the prayers, the walls, the light — and through them found hope. Each piece bears witness to the paradox of our existence: the pain of history intertwined with the holiness of survival.

Foreshortened Time is not only a reflection on crisis; it is a declaration of endurance. Even as the world narrows its gaze upon us, we continue to expand — in light, in song, in art, in love.
Because when time feels shortened, we choose to fill it with meaning.
And when the world turns dark, we remain — unbreakably Jewish.