"For any of us who hold hybrid identity and specifically us three, who hold categorically 'impossible' identity, in air quotes, in order for us to breathe and be whole, we have to melt down these false boundaries, because literally we can't exist if they're there."

-Arielle Tonkin

As part of our ongoing series on the contemporary art exhibit A Fence Around The Torah, we’re joined by three artists who were part of a four-person group multimedia installation for the exhibit titled “I mean…how do you define safety?”

Here’s what they said about the installation in their artist statement.  

“I mean…how do you define safety?”  is a multimedia exhibit of oral history, visual art, and nourishment. It explores what “safety” means for Jews from Arab lands, who after hundreds to thousands of years of relative safety in the region, were torn from their homes, customs, languages, and ancestral roots upon the establishment of the state of Israel. This piece explores the questions, longing, and desires of the women who are descendants of those who left. Although much was lost, stolen, and erased – remnants of our food, language, and other anchors connect us to our ancestors.”  

Arielle Tonkin (they/she) is a queer mixed ashkesephardimizrahi artist living on Ohlone land in the so-called San Francisco Bay Area. Arielle works to dismantle white supremacy through art practice, arts and culture organizing, and Jewish and interfaith education work. The Muslim-Jewish Arts Fellowship, Arts Jam for Social Change, Tzedek Lab, SVARA, and Atiq: Jewish Maker Institute are among their networks of accountability, collective power, creative collaboration and care.

Coral Cohen (she/her) is a director, writer, and performance deviser born and raised in Los Angeles and currently based in Brooklyn, New York. Her work spans multiple forms, media, and subjects, but is largely defined by an emphasis on creative collaboration and deep engagement with the people and subjects she approaches. Coral has written and directed a short film, Wresting Place, which is slated to premiere in 2022.

Hannah Aliza Goldman (she/her) is a performer, writer, producer, and voiceover artist based in Brooklyn. As a writer, Hannah has contributed to Alma and The Forward. She is an active member of Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ) and produced their inaugural Mimouna event celebrating Mizrahi culture.