Priestly Blessing (Birkat Kohanim): A Vector Collage by Ashton Macklin
This work is the result of interactions with thoughts left behind from three podcasts from Judaism Unbound: Episode 289: Jewish Anarchism, featuring Cindy Milstein, Episode 290: Nobody Owns Land, featuring David Seidenberg, and Episode 299: Becoming a Golem, featuring Julie Weitz. This graphic is a form of artwork called a "vector collage," a series of vectors combined together to form a unified image.
In this vector collage, I synthesize my observations on our relationship with God, and visualize how my Judaism brings those observations into abstract form. Themes of the three episodes that I channeled into this graphic include relationships between:
- Humans and Earth (reconsidering the notion that we "own" land, or earth),
- Humanity and itself (humans' self-understanding of their purpose in the universe), and
- The Jewish collective and its past.
About the Artist: Hailing from Houston, Texas, Ashton Macklin is a first-year student at Carleton College studying Linguistics and Sociology, with interest in pursuing the rabbinate post-graduation. In his free time, he loves to work hands-on with anything that he finds interesting, from beekeeping to bagpiping to teaching at museums. He binds his pursuit of knowledge and love of life to his passion for Judaism.
