Respectable Clothing

Materials: Handspun wool yarns

Price:  $2000

Dimensions: 24” x 21” x 1”

Date completed:  2004

Awarded Honorable Mention in “Make a Grand Entrance” exhibition at HGA Convergence ’06, Grand Rapids, MI

Front: Violence against Jews does not affect me, but indiscriminate bombing of offices, hotels, nightclubs, and trains around the world is inexcusable terrorism.

Back: Tel Aviv June 2001 • New York Sept. 2001 • Netanya 2002 • Marseille Mar. 2002, Djerba Apr. 2002• Bali 2002 • Haifa Oct. 2003 • Istanbul Nov. 2003• Madrid Mar. 2004• Beslan Sept. 2004 

At first glance, Respectable Clothing appears to be a traditional Shetland vest. Indeed, it is knit from handspun Shetland wool in natural colors. The vest is a symbol of proper, polite society, and is merely a point of departure.  My theme is terrorism and people’s reactions to it. 

After the destruction of the World Trade Center in 2001 I suddenly felt vulnerable as a Jew in America. Within hours of the airplanes hitting the towers, I heard people on the news blame the attack on U.S. ties to Israel, with the implication that there was too much Jewish influence in U.S. foreign policy. Over time I heard commentators in academia and the media, in the United States and in Europe, express anti-Semitic views as if they were conventional opinions. I noticed a vast inconsistency in reactions to terrorism depending on where it took place. My response was a combination of sadness and anger. I needed to do something to make people re-examine their attitudes.

The list of places and dates of terrorist attacks on the back of the vest may not be recognizable to all viewers. The very fact that most people will not recognize many of these events is my point. Not only is media coverage uneven, but so is community response. The police in Marseille, France, said they could do little in response to the fire that destroyed the city’s synagogue. When a truck filled with natural gas smashed into Africa’s oldest synagogue and exploded, Government officials in Djerba, Tunisia, called it at an accident. The Passover holiday bombing of a hotel in the Israeli resort town of Netanya should be no less disturbing than the bombing of vacation spots in Bali.

Prompting a closer examination of attitudes is my way of dealing with fear.