Interchanging Influences on the Road Reflection on Jewish Textiles

This is the Masters thesis for my research degree at the University of Wollongong Australia. As a textile designer, my research examines designs and embellishments on the every day and sacred objects of Jewish migration. My research considers the influences, changes and interactions of migration on the decoration and the embellishments of artefacts. In my study I examine matzah bags, whimples, pages of the Bible and ktubot (Jewish marriage certificates) across cultures, from Yemen to Israel and through Europe. I look at these various artefacts with attention to the message they carry and their relevance to Jewish origins, observing the differences and similarities between various Jewish cultures. I chose this topic on the artefacts of Jewish people as it reflects my heritage and responds to my own experience of travel. The exhibition "Traveling Patterns: Fabrics on the Road" held in the Faculty of creative Arts Gallery at the University of Wollongong, June to July 2008, incorporated my experience as a traveller through a series of scrolls and jackets. It included the use of microtext that symbolized a personal connection to the past and to the Jewish people who traveled before me.