About the Right of Being Different | Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage | Cleveland, OH

If you haven't had a chance to visit the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage in Cleveland, OH, it is a unique museum that focuses on the differences in American culture. While it does have a focus on Jewish American culture, there is a lot more to see, and you certainly do not have to be Jewish to visit.

Today, April 1, 2011, a new exhibit is opening at the Maltz Museum, that actually has nothing to do with Judaism, and everything to do with diversity and culture in the United States and the world. It is a fascinating exhibit, and I was lucky enough to get a preview yesterday, before the exhibit was open to the public.

The exhibit, About the Right of Being Different: The Art of Diversity and Inclusion at Progressive, comes from the art collection at Progressive. This is not an art exhibit for the faint of heart, but is a provocative look at diversity through the eyes of a collection of diverse artists. The exhibit is only going to be at the Maltz Museum for three months, and if you are interested at all in diversity, art, or the Maltz Museum, this is a great exhibit to see.

Living in a large city in the United States, it is easy to see why diversity is such an opportunity and a challenge. The city of Cleveland, while not New York or Los Angeles, still is quite diverse, which creates both obstacles and challenges to communication and understanding between people who live and work here.

About the Right of Being Different, points to the diversity of our culture, and examines it through new eyes, and diverse artist talents and media. The collection of pieces includes film, photography, paintings, sculptures, textiles, and metal work. Each piece is attention getting, and makes you think, even if it does so in a negative way.

As I walked through the exhibit, I found myself both looking at the artwork as art, and also as statements of philosophy and politics.

There are some distinct diverse communities being represented in this art exhibit. Some of them are subcultures like gay men, and lesbian women, and body artists. Other cultures are ethnic communities, Hispanic Americans, Japanese culture, African Americans, and Jewish Americans. In most of the pieces, you can see evidence of both isolation from and being part of the larger community.

Several of the artists, photographers, place themselves in their own work in various formats, exposing themselves to or including themselves in the culture that they are exploring. This I found extremely interesting, especially the piece Women of Allah (pictured here), in which the artist places herself in the culture that she has escaped.

About the Right to Be Different gives the viewer a chance to question the preconceived notions, cultural mores, and prejudices that we all grow up with, and see the world through the eyes of people distinctly unlike ourselves. Even while we glimpse at lifestyles, people, and cultures that are unlike ours, we can question and learn about what makes people believe and live the way that they do.

The remarkable aspect of seeing an exhibit showing the differences in people like this one, is that in many ways it also points out what is the same between us. After all, no matter the culture, sexual orientation, or nationality, we all have the same basic needs for food and shelter, love and protection, and community. This is very evident by the eclectic collection in the exhibit.

While many of the art pieces in the exhibit at the Maltz Museum are statements more than art, some of the pieces stand out as being remarkable just for the technical construction and the creative talent of the art itself.

Several of the pieces are incredible works of art, including the sculpture, Power Figure to Save My Life by artist Vanessa German, mixed media, Peep by artist Anita Dube, enamel eyes, and Plumage, by artist Laurel Roth, mixed media including fake fingernails, nail polish, barrettes, false eyelashes, jewelry, walnut, Swarovski crystals. This is definitely an exhibit to see if you get the opportunity.