Names A name, especially a surname can carry information – country of origin, religion and ethnicity. This multichannel video installation illustrates one impact this small community has had on the larger fabric of Toronto. Jewish individuals make up less than 4% of the city’s population. The installation’s goal is to display names in a manner which bears no resemblance to today’s “lists” of Jewish surnames from antisemitic “alt-right” groups, or echoes of lists of Jewish names collected during the Holocaust. An additional layer of interest comes to light when analyzing that the names are on signage of public institutions – including hospitals and universities – illustrating how established the community has become. Toronto has a history of discrimination against Jews; there was a time when Toronto’s hospitals would not hire doctors who were Jewish, as well up until the 1960’s quotas were in place for Jewish student enrollment at Universities. Through the assembly of visuals of these multiple names, the audience will be intrigued by the text. The human brain is designed for automaticity with regard to reading, it has the ability to quickly and effortlessly recognize words without consciously directing attention to the task. As viewers automatically process the text, they may deduce there is a commonality amongst the names and ponder why. To see the individual single channel video please double click on each below. Keep in mind when exhibited all three videos are synced to play simultaneously on three walls surrounding the viewer.
.