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Back in Chicago, Rothenberg returned to Spertus and began thinking about
the relationship between her photos and the various objects in the archives
and how they connected to the institute’s gallery space. “I didn’t want to
talk about individuals,” she says. “I wanted to talk about systems.” She
found she could get the sense of historical distance and disorientation she
was aiming for by photographing objects from oblique angles. A photo of a
passport of a Jewish refugee who came to the United States via Mexico, for
instance, focuses on the taped and frayed edge of the cover, not the
information inside about its owner. “It requires you to look at it,” says
Rothenberg, “and think about what it represents.” (In an online component
of the exhibition, visitors will be able to look at more conventional
photos of the objects and learn about their history.)
2/1-4/22: Sun 10 AM-5 PM, Mon-Wed 9 AM-5 PM, Thu 9 AM-6 PM, Fri 9 AM-3 PM. Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership, 610 S. Michigan, 312-322-1700, spertus.edu. F
