Light Licks: By the Waters of Babylon: I Want to Paint It Black

Overview

I spent the week of thanksgiving 2010 in Prague; I had never been to Europe before and as a Jew born in the 2nd World War, I had a strong association of central Europe with the Holocaust. I found Prague to be an extremely charming and beautiful city, an architectural palimpsest as it hadn’t been bombed. In this LIGHT LICK I responded to the city in the present tense, but kept being drawn into its past. The grave of Rabbi Judah Lowe, the alleged maker of the Golem, alleged descendent of King David, and certainly one of the great Jewish scholars and mystics of his time. The absence of a contemporary Jewish community and the wonderful statues, bridges, and buildings led me to make this dark Gothic reflection of 21st century Prague.