Opening October 22 in Los Angeles, the exhibition carries difficult community conversations into a public space for art.
Artist and organizer Patrisse Cullors is bringing a yearlong Black-Jewish dialogue project into the galleries of the Skirball Cultural Center with Wishes Made Material, a new exhibition opening October 22 and scheduled to remain on view through February 28, 2027.
The installation grew from Bridging Histories: Black-Jewish Dialogues for Peace and Unity. According to the museum, the program brought community leaders together after the October 7, 2023, terrorist attacks. The exhibition uses three new works to explore what participants carried from those meetings.
From conversations to an installation
The museum describes two textile works incorporating screen-printed photographs, along with a video made by Cullors and TURL and projected across multiple screens. Recorded dialogue and a musical score form part of the experience. Jideofor Chikeruba curated the exhibition for the Skirball.
Cullors, a Los Angeles-based artist and co-founder of Black Lives Matter, works across visual art, performance and organizing. Here, the museum presents her work as an invitation to listen and remain in relationship through unresolved questions.
A year of returning to the same room
An October 21 profile published by The Forward provides further background. That piece is sponsored content from The 36 Award, rather than an independently reported Forward news article, and its account should be understood in that context.
The profile says Cullors approached Skirball leader Jessie Kornberg about creating the series. Black, Jewish and Black Jewish participants gathered monthly, sharing meals, studying texts and discussing grief, antisemitism and anti-Black racism.
According to that account, the effort encountered objections to Cullors’ leadership before it began. Cullors described continuing the project despite the criticism and building relationships across differences in political views.
The award organization recognized her with an honorable mention in its inaugural year. Its profile frames the repeated gatherings as a way to make room for different experiences without requiring participants to agree on everything.
A community question beyond Los Angeles
The exhibition’s opening gives Mohawk Valley readers a chance to consider a practical question about community dialogue: What would make a difficult conversation worth returning to?
For a library, congregation, cultural organization or neighborhood group considering its own discussions, useful questions include who helps set the agenda, how participants can challenge harmful statements and whether there will be another meeting after the first disagreement. Those are questions raised by the format, rather than findings that this exhibition proves.
A public art installation also asks something different of its audience than a private gathering does. Visitors encounter a selected presentation of the work. They can consider its ideas while recognizing that no exhibition can stand in for every participant’s experience or every Black or Jewish community.
Visitor information
The Skirball lists general admission at $20, with $15 admission for seniors, full-time students with identification and children ages 2 to 17. Members and children under 2 enter free, and admission is free to everyone on Thursdays. Check the museum’s ticket page for reservations and current visiting details.
