Fairfax : Sephardic Art Exhibition

An exhibit of art, photography and ritual objects related to the 500th anniversary of the expulsion of the Jews from Spain will open Jan. 25 at the Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles.

The exhibit will include ritual objects used by the Sephardic Jewish community, recent work on the expulsion by Israeli artist Raphael Abeccasis and photographic essays on the Sephardic communities of Greece, Turkey and Morocco.

The exhibit, called “Echoes of Sepharad,” is sponsored by the group’s Pauline Hirsh Gallery and Project Rediscovery: 1492-1992 of the Sephardic Hebrew Academy.

According to organizers, the exhibit recalls the fact that 1492 was the year, not only of Columbus’s first voyage of discovery but also of the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Jews from Spain. It is designed to introduce viewers “to the Golden Age of Jewry, reflecting the trauma of the Inquisition, the contributions of Sephardic Jewry and the similarities and the diversities in the Sephardic aesthetic as expressed through art, ritual and culture.”

Most of the material will be on view through April 10.

The show will open with a reception, with wine and music, Saturday night at 7:30 in the Board Room of the Jewish Community Building, 6505 Wilshire Blvd. A $5 donation is suggested.

For further information, call the Council on Jewish Life at (213) 852-1234, Ext. 2955 or 2117.