Africa Ketubah

In the late 1980s, a large number of Jews fled South Africa, many of whom came to Canada, and one of them became a client of mine. He and his Canadian fiancée were interested in creating a personal ketubah that mirrored their lives, their different pasts, and their shared love of Jewish culture.

We decided to combine the three locations that held significance for them. After seeing the Alaskan ketubah, they liked the idea of placing the text within a map of Africa. Once again, I made use of an inner border to separate the geographies and their flora.

The inner space depicts the snowy lakes and mountains of western Canada, with a depiction of ancient Judean architecture peeking out from behind the text.

The outer space is filled with images of Africa—the Serengeti plains with small village huts, a great waterfall, and the trees and flowers that grow in this region.

A lone giraffe walks the plain while a rhinoceros peers out from behind some vegetation. Birds of paradise rise to meet a dove of peace and a lush cluster of grapes.

This work was created using watercolors on Arches paper.