Reema Abraham
What Is Hanukkah?
An International Art Exhibition
(December 10 through January 31, 2021)
BIO
I'm a self taught artist from South India, who loves to dabble with colors. Environment and nature has always been a passion and a source of inspiration. So has been the textile world which itself is a world of art with myriad weaving and dyeing techniques. This curiosity with textiles led me to hold an exhibition based on Indian textiles at the Plock Art and Culture Centre in Poland, titled 'A Million Threads'. As a journalist who had reported on many environmental issues, it was quite natural for me to transfer the images I had seen to canvas.
STATEMENT
The artwork titled 'Hello from the Past' may not have any current connection to Hanukkah, but has been inspired by a wooden panel from an ornate Torah Ark from one of the seven Jewish synagogues in my hometown, Cochin in Kerala, India. Cochin has always been very welcoming to Jews from Europe and Jews were a part of our culture for many centuries. So was their customs, traditions and celebrations like the Hanukkah. Almost all the Jews have left our hometown for Israel, but the synagogues remain, as do some of the beautiful Torah Arks with their carved and painted wooden panels. This is a tribute to history and the memories they left behind.
Reema Abraham
India