The diverse artworks in this exhibition explore the profound beauty of repair and resilience, inspired by the Japanese art of kintsugi. This ancient practice mends broken pottery using natural materials like rice, flour, stone powder, and wood powder. Once repaired, metal powders such as gold, silver, or platinum are applied to the seams, transforming fractures into exquisite golden veins. The philosophy of kintsugi teaches us to honor imperfections, valuing the history and scars that shape us.
At its heart, this exhibition celebrates the universal experience of brokenness and renewal. Like kintsugi pottery, there exists beauty and strength in our scars, whether personal or collective. The concept resonates deeply with the Jewish tradition of tikkun olam—repairing the world—and the natural formation of keloids, scars that become stronger than the original skin, symbolizing transformation through healing.
Spanning ceramics, mixed media, photography, and performance, the artists and their works capture the essence of kintsugi, exploring themes of resilience, transformation, and the beauty of imperfection. Whether referring directly to their own bodies, the re-making inherent in creation through repair, or as a metaphor to their melded communities, the artists embrace a story-telling that is borne of mending and brokenness. The art on view reveals that fracture is not an end but the beginning of a new, more complete form of wholeness.
Curated by Deborah Goodman Davis