Permanent exhibition by the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto amplifies a broad spectrum of unheard Jewish voices, giving a valuable lesson in Jewish diversity at home and outside
March 15, 2021
Maxine Lee Ewaschuk is dancer and fibre artist based in Toronto, Canada. She shares her original embroidered artwork @exp.threads, which she describes as “stitching stories with thread and words.” Ewaschuk’s work draws on a wide range of influences from modernist art to Korean folk culture to the Yiddish cultural milieu to Bernie Sanders and his mittens! Inspired by early 20th-Century Expressionist painters, she interprets their dynamic brushwork into lively stitches and bold embroidery.
She was commissioned by PRISM––a convening on March 16 for Jews of Color who are artists and culture-makers––to create a new work to promote this online event. As part of Lilith’s ongoing collaboration with the team of creatives behind PRISM, Lilith invited Maxine Lee Ewaschuk to write about what inspires her embroidered pieces and, in particular, the unique composition she made for PRISM.