Joel Mesler Joins Billboard Fight Against Antisemitism
Artworks by Hank Willis Thomas, Carrie Mae Weems, and Deborah Kass will also feature in the campaign against antisemitism across eight U.S. cities.
Joel Mesler, Untitled (Meshuggeneh) (2022). Courtesy the artist and For Freedoms.
American art collective For Freedoms will launch a new artist-designed billboard campaign to tackle antisemitic violence and hate speech from 5 September.
The campaign's title, The Highest Form of Wisdom is Kindness, takes its name from the Talmud.
Participating artists include Carrie Mae Weems, Joel Mesler, and Doron Langberg.
They were invited to create billboards that aspire towards a world free of antisemitism.
Mesler's Untitled (Meshuggeneh) (2022), pictured top, presents the Yiddish word for a crazy person in golden helium balloons against a colourful greeting-card-like background.
Eric Gottesman's design emblazons the resolve 'never again', first popularly used in the aftermath of the Holocaust, across a flag of the United States.
The launch of the billboards across the United States will coincide with the Jewish High Holy days of Rosh Hashanah (15–17 September) and Yom Kippur (24–25 September).
'We want to inspire freedom of worship and foster a place where people of all faiths are free, decolonised, and safe,' said For Freedoms' Carly Fischer.
Orange Barrel Media (OBM) will present the works on their billboards and outdoor signage spaces in Los Angeles, San Antonio, Boston, Coral Gables, Columbus, Washington DC, Atlanta, and St. Louis.
The campaign comes amid rising anti-Jewish sentiments. Reported antisemitic incidents in the United States reached an all-time high in 2022 according to statistics gathered by the Anti-Defamation League.
'We believe that the past is present and that critical thinking is vital in undoing vast social prejudices like antisemitism,' said Fischer, adding, 'when we deny our history, we are destined to repeat it.'
Previous billboard campaigns by the collective have sought to draw attention to social injustices in the lead up to the 2016, 2018, and 2020 election campaigns.
Artists who have taken part include Rashid Johnson, Christine Sun Kim, and Marilyn Minter. —[O]
