I was invited to participate in Circa Atelier’s exhibition,The Things We Carry, The show takes place in Toronto, Ontario, from August 28-September 28, 2026.

Artist’s Statement:

I welcome Circa Atelier’s invitation to consider The Things We Carry as it resonates with the direction of my recent work. My contribution to the show is a series of sculptures about my family's history.  Three generations ago, at the turn of the last century, my family fled Russia to escape anti-Jewish pogroms. They did not preserve many documents, but by sculpting, I am creating a vocabulary for their stories and images that evoke that history: ocean waves, family clusters and smaller objects to hold in one's pocket while traveling and facing the unknown. 

The stories of my great grandparents’ journey have enabled my empathy for other immigrant stories – for other families whose dire circumstances have compelled them to gather their small children and leave behind livelihoods, possessions, friends, and other innumerable valued parts of their lives.  

The cruelty shown to recent immigrants in the United States – the abductions, deportations, and the separation of families, among other calamities- are dramas happening in our own neighborhoods.  As has been said many a time, evil is enabled by those who become numbed to the pain of others.