Tree of Life

2023

Tree of Life Synagogue, Pittsburgh Massacre Memorial

October 27, 2018; Cheshvan 18, 5779

Adhesive-backed fabric, aqueous inkjet photograph, pine-framed archival pigment prints, video

The premeditated murder of eleven Jewish worshipers belonged to three congregations that found their spiritual home at the Tree of Life Synagogue filled me with sorrow and frustration. As a Jewish person on alert, every incident of gun violence impacts me, and contributes to a public trauma of terrorism in our country. This horrific act of violence and others like it proclaim a worsening tragic connection to histories of malicious, ongoing hate crimes against Jews and other marginalized people.

As a memorial to the Jewish victims, the imagery references the inherent meanings of the “tree of life” in Judaism. It symbolizes the cycles of life, death, rebirth, and connections to heritage and history. The “tree of life” is often used to refer to the sacred Hebrew text within the Torah. The Torah is a source of Jewish origins, laws, stories, and guidance for being a good person. A life-affirming symbol, the “tree of life” is commonly embraced by many cultures and religions. Mother, enrolled member of Citizen Potawatomi Nation, scientist, Professor Robin Wall Kimmerer in her book Braiding Sweetgrass asserts, “Old-growth cultures, like old-growth forests, have not been exterminated.”

Rage.Remember.Renew. Seven Memorials to Victims of Gun Violence

FORM+CONTENT GALLERY December 7, 2023 – January 13, 2024

210 North Second Street, Minneapolis, MN 55401

This project was made possible in part with the support of Rimon: The Minnesota Jewish Arts Council, an initiative of the Minneapolis Jewish Federation.

Tree of Life video on YouTube

This 2023 video montage is a memorial for victims of gun violence, including the Tree of Life Synagogue, Pittsburgh Massacre in 2018. The video points to the horrific acts of violence that proclaim a worsening tragic connection to histories of malicious, ongoing hate crimes against Jews and other marginalized people.

The video imagery was structured around three pieces of music, starting with "We Remember," a 2018 choral piece by Rabbis Ken Chasen and Yoshi Zweiback, based on a poem "We Remember Them." The second 2020 composition, "Say Their Names," is by composer / musician Matthew Evan Taylor. The third Ernest Bloch duet of piano and violin, "Nigun Baal Shem" was composed in 1923, and performed by Miryana Moteva and Stephanie Arado.

In a poem by Don Brunnquell, "And As Always," the repeated refrain mimics our frustrated responses of failed attempts to diminish the incidents of gun violence in this country.

Images of old growth trees tie the video together from the beginning to end. In a final quote from Professor Robin Wall Kimmerer, mother, enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, scientist, and author of "Braiding Sweetgrass," she asserts, "Old-growth cultures, like old-growth forests, have not been exterminated."

This video accompanies an installation of the “Tree of Life Synagogue Massacre Memorial.” As a memorial to the Jewish victims, the installation of a 10-foot-high x 8-foot-wide photomontage references the inherent meanings of the “tree of life” in Judaism. It symbolizes the cycles of life, death, rebirth, and connections to heritage and history. Pine-framed images and text descriptions of the eleven victims were attached to the wall on top of the tree-filled landscape. Within the landscape, a circular gunsight scope is detectable. At the bottom of the images where the trees are rooted, the circle is solid where the portraits of the victims are secured to the wall. The gunsight is broken as it reaches toward the sky.

On the floor, a hand-made ceramic bowl contains rocks and a card inviting gallery visitors to place rocks below the wall installation as a symbol of their presence.

https://youtu.be/gp_CKEkIE2U

Guest Book and personal email responses

January 9, 2024

Hi Linda!
____ and I went to the gallery last Friday and were very impressed with the exhibition, and your contribution in particular. You were able to take a horrific event and transform it into something vibrant. Just the scale of it with all the various components —their multi-dimensionality and interconnectedness—was such a moving tribute. The colorful (but fractured) Tree of Life embedded with the photos and short statements about each victim really helped me connect with it in a personal way. The video and music, especially the part with the child climbing the tree, elevated it to another level. The whole, much greater than the sum of the parts, was so moving and heartfelt. You really captured the BEAUTY and RESILIENCE of the human spirit.
I attended something this afternoon called 'The Upshift Conversations’ created by Erwin Lazlo, and I think what you did creatively with that memorial is an excellent example of what he calls ‘an upshift.’ It’s the transformation of something negative into something positive, something that divides into something that unites, transcends and is elevated. So glad we got to see it!

Jan 8, 2024, 10:03 AM (2 days ago)

Hi Linda,

Thanks for the reminder; and much more so for sharing your work and creativity. I went to the exhibit with a friend on Saturday. It was powerful. I found your video and the bios very moving.

Hi Linda…____ and I went to Form+Content yesterday! Your installation was rich, poignant and comforting. I think the video worked beautifully. Thanks ! I hope you are well and hope to see you soon…

Fri, Jan 5, 2:38 PM (9 days ago)

Hi Linda,

I wasn’t able to make it to your talk at F & C. It seems like I had a million things on the calendar for that day.  But yesterday I was able to go over and spend time with the show. What a powerful experience. Some of the pieces made me gasp, some made me shake my head and yours made me start to cry. Finding out about these victims as real people - a bit of their biographies as well as reflections from their family members, their photos, made them so alive and the tragedy of their loss so real. I also liked what you did with the video - tying the Tree of Life name of the synagogue with actual trees and the landscape - especially the old growth forest and the old cultures - that was very effective. And, oddly, soothing too.

Kudos to you for making us FEEL these tragedies, when so often they just become statistics or another news headline that we don’t have time to truly digest.

It’s a powerful show and I wish it had gotten more attention.

Thanks for sharing such meaningful and touching work.

Hi Linda

Thanks for a lovely outing today!  Linda, your work is very powerful.  

Hi Linda..I just wanted to say how much I admire that piece you created for the F & C show…really deep- spot on.

Fri, Dec 22, 2023, 7:12 PM

Hey Linda, great to see you and Congratulations again. Your talk today was excellent, and the many layers of your piece truly resonated. It’s an important piece and was perfectly scaled to the space. Talk soon

Thanks for these, and for the video, which was heart-wrenching and profound.

During the Artist’s Talk, I raised connections between the Jewish observance of Yahrzeit and Yizkor during Yom Kippur as similar to the more recent practice of ‘Say Their Names’ following the injustices and deaths of BIPOC people. After my presentation, an older Jewish man came up to me and said he now thinks of ‘Say Their Names’ differently.