I call myself a creative Jew, but it has never been easy to decide what to label myself. ‘Artist’ never felt quite right. I find there’s a fine line for me between the expectation that comes with ‘artist,’ and the love that comes with romanticizing the world around me if I call myself a creative. I like this description more – it puts the focus on how I look at the world rather than an output of art and product. There’s an exciting freedom in ‘creative,’ because art for me is something to mess around in. This label lets me play. And playing lets us – Jewish artists – defy and frustrate the boundaries that seek to limit us in the art world and beyond.
I’ve been playing creatively all my life. When my family moved to Canada from Israel, my mom ran an at-home daycare, where creativity was a constant. Even then, I loved process over result, and was especially fond of sensory activities. One was a craft where we formed all sorts of beans and lentils into designs on a surface, resulting in unique pictures. I enjoyed feeling the different textures – this craft would hold up with me today. Similarly, around Hanukkah, we would let candle wax drip from burning colourful candles onto sheets of paper, making neat designs or just watching the flames flicker.
As a teen, I took art lessons from the Rebbetzin of my local Chabad. All the still-lifes, I’m sorry to say, did not result in a talent of any sort, because life was too dynamic and shifting for me to be able to bear drawing it ‘still.’ I felt the art was too bound by expectations of a certain result for me to enjoy the process.
Fast forward far to my second year of university, when the tragedy of October 7th happened. It shook our community to the core. Jewish creatives tried to find our way through art, but I found my usual platform was not a space where I could do so. My following did not care for Jewish pain or joy. At university, while I felt I had a space for community, I had none for expression. I discovered many felt the same. So, I started a little something called The Kvell & Kibbitz – our Jewish arts & culture zine in Ontario, founded at Queen’s University. It is a space by us, and for us. It is a space for us to mess around in, design as we wish, tell our own stories in a space where we cannot be questioned, twisted, or diminished. And I think everybody needs a little space to mess around in these days. I hope you can find one.
Sheana Tchebotaryov
Passionate about doodling, collaging, photography, music, reading by the water, and odd marginalia.
I am honoured to be published in EDA! I met Ulrich through the International Network of Jewish Artists and Creatives, and we connected over our love for international creative collaboration. It is empowering that we can connect so quickly and powerfully, forming connections over oceans. It is a testament to the strength of our people’s expression, and I hope collaborations only continue!