(gentle music) - What defines a Jewish individual, and there really is no definition, and it's something that is evolving, and people can relate through religion, through culture.

We are looking at the diversity within Judaism.

I think it was important for us to provide a little bit of a framework for exploring diversity within Judaism through these portraits, which feature iconic Jewish individuals, all who have contributed to the fabric of society, so in thinking about these images, it contributes to what people gleaning information think they know about an individual, when, in fact, it's probably just a fraction of a really layered story.

Art is about transcendence in a lot of ways and has the power to touch people in ways that words don't or can't sometimes.

Being able to just highlight that diversity was really important and exciting for us.

(gentle music) (relaxed music) (relaxed music continues) I'm Molly Dubin and I'm the chief curator here at the Jewish Museum of Milwaukee.

My goals are to put on exhibitions that bring all kinds of people through our doors.

(inquisitive music) We put together shows that speak to Jewish individuals, but hopefully people of all backgrounds.

I'm always looking to ensure that there's an entry point for everyone to see themselves.

The artist is Abshalom Jac Lahav, goes by Jac Lahav, and this is an open-ended project that was begun in 2006 that has continued to evolve in terms of the number of portraits that are included and the featured figures.

- My name is Jac Lahav and I am an artist.

I was in graduate school in about 2006 and I started thinking about my own identity as being Jewish, but being American, and what did it mean, and so that's basically when I started the series.

- [Molly] You have people in this exhibit that range from Golda Meir, who's someone that wasn't born in Milwaukee, but came to Milwaukee from Russia when she was eight years old, and, of course, was the first female prime minister of Israel and is this incredible example of leadership.

Jerome Silberman, better are known as Gene Wilder, Helen Daniels Bader, and then you have someone like Elvis Presley.

His great-great-grandmother was Jewish, and if you look at Halakha, which is Jewish law and how Judaism is defined that way, it's through the matriarchal line.

Even though Elvis was raised as a Pentecostal Christian, by all accounts, he was very proud of his Jewish heritage.

- [Jac] That's the beginning because the show has 48 portraits of different people, different stories, and each one has their own biography and their own story.

In American media, most Jews are represented as European white Ashkenazi.

There is a good deal of Ashkenazi European Jews, but there's also Black Jews.

- [Molly] Amar'e Stoudemire, who is someone who his interest in Judaism was spurred by something his mother said about, you know, their legacy and their background that wound up having him study for many years about Judaism and eventually converting and becoming an Orthodox Jewish individual.

- I am fascinated by the internet.

I'm interested both in what we can learn from the internet, but also how the internet leads us astray.

The internet in general is biased.

Most people get their information from the internet and they assume that the first search on Google is factual.

The Emma Lazarus painting.

I started with an image of Emma Lazarus and then I asked, I was actually using ChatGPT and I asked it to change her shirt, but keep the rest of the image the same in order to get, like, a bunch of Statue of Libertys on her shirt.

Emma Lazarus, the famous poet that has the poem at the Statue of Liberty.

I didn't realize at the time, but as I was painting her, ChatGPT had anglified Emma Lazarus, and as I was examining her, I was like, "She doesn't look right," and I went back to the original and I saw that, you know, they straightened her nose, they took out some bags under her eyes, and I kept this image in the series in order to talk about it.

- So, for every exhibit, we like to have some type of an interactive component, something that enables our visitors to experience the exhibit, engage with the themes, and then respond in some way in terms of how it connected with them.

We have three prompts that are in the hallway that ask about identity in terms of, you know, how your family or friends might identify you, how you would identify yourself today, what is an identity that you aspire to?

Thinking about the fact that we all wear multiple hats of identity at any given time, and that's something that's constantly fluid and changing.

(inspiring music) (inspiring music ends) - [Narrator] Thanks for watching "The Arts Page."

Please like, subscribe, and turn on notifications for more stories of art in our community.