SIVAN-GEMINI

Sivan is a month when the world is fully awake with beauty and richness of spring, but it is also a month of great religious significance in the Hebrew calendar. Symbolically referred to as Gemini/Twins, Sivan is often linked to the multiple interpretations of the Song of Songs, which might refer to human lovers who become one, or to the Spiritual and the Human. This Hebrew month roughly corresponds to May or June in the Gregorian/secular calendar.

The turning image of the sun, moon, and stars placed over the interior view of the Stanton Street Shul sets the stage for this entire series. Celestial bodies are part of centuries of tradition in multiple cultures, and so they naturally sit on top of any thoughts of an American synagogue made to reflect Eastern Europe.
narrative by Ellissa Sampson

In the Central video, birds in a distant sky bring viewers to the imagery of the two-birds in the zodiac in the Staton Street Shul, who are identified as love-birds in the accompanying narrative by by Elissa Sampson. In a cross reference to Shevat - Aquarius, the birds seem to be part of the Noah’s Ark story.
narrative by Ellissa Sampson

Melding the middle ages to the current era, lamppost on the LES has a motif nearly identical to one found in a Hebrew Manuscript from the early 1600s.
electronic music: contemporary composer Bob Gluck