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Rotem Tamir in conversation with Project Collaborator Wendy Wustenberg

Coinciding with the challenges of the pandemic, artist, mother, and teacher, Rotem Tamir wanted to employ the wool-mattress-making craft of her ancestors to create a weighted sensory object for her son to help calm his fears.

Sometimes objects can be much more than what they appear to be. Certain utilitarian objects, such as baskets and blankets, as well as the crafts that wield them, carry powerful generational knowledge.

Tracing the original way of making, following the same path of her Libyan-Jewish Grandmother, embedded her in the collaborative relationships inherent in craft-making. The significance of story-telling, memory-sharing, and connection became inseparable from the process of creating Mattress ג'ראיה. In this conversation, Tamir invites collaborator Wendy Wustenberg of Windswept Hill Farms, who helped her through many facets of this project, to further reflect on this experience. Mattress ג'ראיה is part of the group exhibition, Teachable Moments, curated by Mike Calway-Fagen.