For Irene Fertik, documenting the black experience in the United States has been a lifetime pursuit - yet her most recent endeavor to photograph Ethiopian Jews has become therapy.
The Californian artist, who became depressed after the death of her father, was looking for a way to heal. She had accrued enough air miles by traveling for projects around the world. She chose Israel.
Now she travels around the country showing her exhibit.
During four trips to the country in the 1990s, Fertik took more than 200 rolls of film of the Ethiopian Jews. About 30 photos are currently on exhibit at the Hillel Jewish Student Center, 360 Charles St.
Her idea was to document the attitudes of other Israelis and the way they treated the Ethiopian Jews since their immigration to the area.
"Justice has been a very important feature in my life as a documentary photographer," she said.
Fertik said some people have prejudices, but institutional racism is absent in Israeli culture.
"I was amazed at how nonjudgmental they were as far as color - they are all Israelis, they are all Jews," she said, "Israel is a land of immigrants and each group brings their own traditions."
MSU Hebrew professor Ellen Rothfeld coordinated bringing Fertik and her exhibition to campus. She said she hopes the exhibit, planned to coincide with Black History Month, will make people become more aware of the world around them and encourage them to learn more.
"I think the pictures are very touching, it gives us the beginning of an understanding - a starting point," Rothfeld said.
Hillel Executive Director Cindy Hughey said they are hosting the event in an effort to explore the cultural experiences for the MSU Jewish community.
"We feel it is very important to keep our Jewish students connected with what is going on in Israel," she said. "I think it gives them a greater understanding of Israel and a greater understanding of their heritage."
Fertik spoke Monday at the center for the opening of the exhibit.
"I am celebrating who they are, as a people, as a community," she said, "They are ignored."
Interdisciplinary humanities junior Morgan Taylor said she attended the exhibit to see photos which exposed her to a side of Jewish life she was not familiar with.
"I thought it was a wonderful exhibit," she said, "They brought an unknown world closer to me."
