Sandi Knell Tamny

"THE CHOSEN"

September, 1995

The Chosen begins with the tens of thousands of Jews who were expelled from Spain in 1492, during the Spanish Inquisition. But rather than create another "historic commemoration", as in 1992's Columbus quincentennary, I wanted The Chosen to speak about the Expulsion only as the spark which lit the next 500 years of Sephardic enlightenment. The truly wondrous history is of the descendants of these Sephardim, especially when one considers that most of the Spanish Jews left that country with absolutely nothing. The next five centuries have produced generation after generation of scholars, writers, statesmen and artists, each one astonishingly brilliant. The piece is intended to be, then, a tribute to 500 years of Sephardic achievement, and also a historical, educational and spiritual testimony for all people, Jews and non-Jews alike, who have each endured great oppression and managed to survive with their beliefs and their dignity intact.

I find that history is more easily understood if personalities are approached on an individual basis. The turmoils of history are too large for our understanding, and tend to reduce the events to impersonal facts and figures. The Holocaust of our own century surely means more to a young child if explained in a personal manner by family members, rather than taught simply as "history" in school. In the same manner, I am attempting to personify the glory of thousands of Sephardim through the personalities of twenty-seven historic characters.

Each figure is a six-and-one-half feet tall, sarcophagus-shaped form, with a "chest cavity" that opens to reveal information about that person. These lighted displays are almost shrine-like in their appearance and function. Inside each figure is a tableau which illustrates some aspect of that person's life, featuring small found-objects, prints and assorted other materials.

These individuals have been selected for what they demonstrate of everyday people. Thorough research has enabled me to re-construct these personalities, and to detail them fairly authentically: who they were and what type of day-to-day lives they might have led, consistent with their social standing, financial resources, educational opportunities, and the like.

I believe that the work is also a mirror for people of all beliefs to reflect upon their own responses in an equally difficult situation. For current day Jews, for whom the work is perhaps the most poignant, a comparison of the similarities between then and now are very interesting. Apart from ritualistic, stylistic differences which may have developed over the five centuries, the basic questions of Judaism remain the same. How Jews view themselves, both as individuals and as members of a community, has changed little over the centuries, and remains a fundamental aspect of the Jewish experience.

Sandi Knell Tamny