A Review of the Graphic Details Exhibition: Stories Beyond Identities

Years ago when I first moved to Amsterdam, I visited an exhibition at the Jewish Historical Museum titled Superheroes and Schlemiels, Jewish Memory in Comic Strip Art. Presenting a fascinating exploration of the many ways the rich history of comics in the 20th Century is intertwined with the hopes and struggles of the Jewish community, the exhibition highlighted Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel’s Superman, Will Eisner’s A Contract with God, Art Spiegelman’s Maus and Joann Sfarr’s Rabbi’s Cat. Bernice Eisenstein and Miriam Katin were also part of the exhibition for their work in recollections of the Holocaust as well as ideas about the generation gap and misunderstandings between survivors and their children. I was happy to see that contributions of women were not being overlooked in this exhibition, as it is often the case in comics. It is therefore with immense pleasure that I have visited Graphic Details: Confessional Comics by Jewish Women, an exhibition celebrating the role of Jewish women in comics from the past and present, curated by Sarah Lightman and Michael Kaminer at the Space Station Sixty-Five Gallery in Kennington. I was delighted to see original works from Mirian Katin and Bernice Eisenstein again, years after our first encounter in Amsterdam. I was even more excited and curious to learn about new voices in comics. Voices that were there already for years but I hadn’t heard them yet.

I am usually not in favor of gathering artists’ work based on their gender or national and religious identities. Taken too far, or applied too bluntly, such large categories carry the risk of disregarding the individuality of artists for the sake of finding common ground. But Graphic Details avoids this pitfall and entirely justifies its thematic approach. Excellently curated, it presents a diverse body of work from a great variety of artists, namely Vanessa Davis, Bernice Eisenstein, Sarah Glidden, Miriam Katin, Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Miss Lasko-Gross, Sarah Lazarovic, Miriam Libicki, Sarah Lightman, Diane Noomin, Corinne Pearlman, Trina Robbins, Racheli Rotner, Sharon Rudahl, Laurie Sandell, Ariel Schrag, Lauren Weinstein and Ilana Zeffren. Although the exhibition is about being Jewish and being a woman, and it does feature the work from artists that fit that description, it manages to highlight the diversity of their individual perspectives and the great range of their expression. The artists on display focus on a variety of issues, from deeply personal topics to reveal their feelings about the State of Israel, about being Jewish and/or a woman in today’s world, about struggling with children, family, intermarriages and other collective experiences. The works explore our world –not just the Jewish world, our world – and the many questions all of us ask ourselves daily.

I found these voices, with their unique perspectives, profoundly engaging and touching, I am not Jewish, in fact, I am a Muslim, originally from Turkey, living in the former Jewish neighbourhood of Amsterdam. I am surrounded by the many facets of our shared European History with its moments of delight and terror. I often think about our common history and I feel the responsibility to be ever vigilant against repeating its dark chapters. This exhibition renewed my sense of kinship and highlighted our shared hopes and dreams that transcend religion, gender and race. Graphic Details managed to move beyond these boxes, showing that through personal stories, through the sincerity of the tales of individuals, you can go beyond predetermined identities and I cannot think of a better medium than comics for achieving this. 

Practical information

Exhibition runs until 13/12 2014
Visiting times: Wed-Sat 12.00–18.00 and by appointment.

Curated by: Sarah Lightman and Michael Kaminer

At: Space Station Sixty-Five, Building One, 373 Kennington Road, London, SE11 4PS

Participating artists: Vanessa Davis; Bernice Eisenstein; Sarah Glidden; Miriam Katin; Aline Kominsky-Crumb; Miss Lasko-Gross; Sarah Lazarovic; Miriam Libicki; Sarah Lightman; Diane Noomin; Corinne Pearlman; Trina Robbins; Racheli Rotner; Sharon Rudahl; Laurie Sandell; Ariel Schrag; Lauren Weinstein; and Ilana Zeffren.

---

This short review had appeared on the Comics Grid Blog in 2014.