I'm Penny Wollin. I've been a photographer since I was 10 years old. It is the perfect
tool that allows me access to events and people that captivate my imagination. 28 years ago,
I committed to witnessing my own civilization, the golden age of Jewish life, right here
in America. I have documented the Hasidic community of Los Angeles. I continue an
ongoing inquiry into Jewish life in California and presented the exhibition and book The Jews of
Wyoming at the Smithsonian Institution. Now I am in the throes of my latest and most complex
project, Descendants of Light, American Photographers Jewish Ancestry. In no other art form
except cinema has there been such a staggering number of influential figures of Jewish ancestry.
In 2006, I began to make and gather photographs and interviews from photographers across the
country while directly questioning how they did or did not consider their identity as Jews
relevant to their photographic work. These Jewish artists who use cameras are the touch point,
the interface between the icons and iconic events of our time and the very culture itself.
One of my first subjects was Helen Levitt. She said, honey, I'm 93 years old and you're not
getting next to me with a camera, but come over. Arnold Newman introduced me to Rejard Horowitz,
one of the youngest survivors of Auschwitz. This strip of film is key to his mother finding her
six-year-old boy after the war. Rejard introduced me to Gregory Heisler, the spittant image of
his grandfather, Harry Heisler. Greg claims zero practice of traditional religion. Robert Frank
talks about the importance of not being seen and in my photograph almost but not manages to do so.
Like Frank, Eisenstadt, Halsmann, Kappa, and Vichniac were first-generation refugees from
anti-Semitic Europe. Once in America and now thoroughly modern, the photographer's ability
to witness and survive in exile blossomed within the art forms of editorial, fashion, and advertising.
Later in the 20th century brings us ancestral memories and photographs from Lauren Greenfield,
Joanne Kattles, and Liebevitz Larry Fink, Joel Meyerowitz, and a host of others. Visualize the
photographs of Frida Kahlo, Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, John Lennon,
and Yoko Ono. All iconic images made by photographers of Jewish ancestry. Through working with 70
photographers, I have garnered hundreds of historic photographs, scores of portraits of my own
making, days of broadcast quality audio, along with permissions to display the photographs made
by others. Now I need financial help. Now the material must finally be prepared for a traveling
exhibition, a publication, and a documentary film. The time is now for me to be with the material
uninterrupted for six months. This is the perspiration phase of the project and takes full
time focus. I welcome and need your involvement. With your help, we can create a lasting visual
and verbal record of the artists, the photographers of this, the golden age of Jewish life in America.
Thank you very much.
