Artists on Antisemitism IV exhibit at Suffolk Y Jewish Community Center in Commack shows strength

It wasn’t long after Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that Israeli-born artist Efrat Baler-Moses began processing the event and her feelings with her paintbrushes and canvases.

“It’s visceral, it just completely pours out,” Baler-Moses, of Long Beach, said. “The paintings that came out because of Oct. 7, this is nothing that anybody will want to hang in their house. This is not commercial, it’s not pretty art, it’s not comforting in any way. … It had to be shown; it was a response to the media coverage, the pictures, the videos from Hamas that we saw.”

Baler-Moses is one of 13 Jewish artists, including three who live in Israel, who will share their work with Long Islanders through the "Artists on Antisemitism IV" exhibit that opens Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Suffolk Y Jewish Community Center in Commack. The gallery show, on display through March 2, will also display the work of one artist from Los Angeles and several from the New York City area.

“This is representation, but hopefully also a chance for people, not necessarily Jews, to understand or feel our fears and get out of their silence,” Baler-Moses said. “Letting antisemitism rise and not saying anything is most bizarre.”

The first "Artists on Antisemitis" show was organized by the Jewish Art Salon, an international arts nonprofit, and opened last year at the 81 Leonard Gallery in Tribeca. The gallery did not signal the exhibit inside addressed antisemitism, according to artist and art salon founder Yona Verwer, so those passing by would have “no idea” when they visited.

“The response was overwhelming,” she said. “A lot of people came in and started reading all the educational panels about what the artists intended. People were very moved.”

Verwer is one of five curators of "Artists on Antisemitism," a group that includes Bat-Sheva Slavin, the director of Jewish education for the Center for Jewish Life and Learning at the SYJCC. Slavin said the opening ceremony, as well as a choreographed dance performance this Saturday and other events, were scheduled near the annual International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Monday, which this year marks 80 years since the liberation of the concentration camp at Auschwitz.

"If we don't stand up to hate, who are we?" Slavin said.

The Jewish Art Salon and the Tribeca gallery presented the exhibit again at the Hyams Museum at Temple Beth Sholom in Roslyn Heights. Now, half the collected works will be on display in Commack, while the rest were sent to the San Francisco area, where they will be on display at multiple venues this year.

Taking a stand

Beyond the Oct. 7 attack, Baler-Moses and Verwer both pointed to instances of antisemitism as well as pro-Palestinian protests, including one that disrupted an event in February at The Jewish Museum in New York City, as inspiration for much of their work over the past 15 months.

“As Jewish people and Jewish artists, everybody was starting to freak out that we weren’t even really safe anymore walking down the street in our own town,” Verwer said. “We realized we have to find a way for artists to express this, deal with it, process it through their art and create a community and also take a stance.”

Long Islanders will get to see Baler-Moses’ “Wipe Out,” which depicts alphabet blocks strewed about two canvases connected at a crooked angle. She said the children’s toy blocks depict the letters necessary to spell “no hope” and represent “my innocence that was completely torn.”

“I had a belief that the world is a better place,” she added. “You can imagine the shock to me to find out after Oct. 7 when antisemitism suddenly rose its head.”

While other works on display at the SYJCC will look at historical and current traumas, some focus on optimism and courage amid adversity, said Verwer.

“We don’t want to portray ourselves as victims,” she said. “We want to find strength.”