Jenny Yurshansky | Rinsing The Bones

Rinsing The Bones
Saturday, April 29 | 12 PM – 4 PM
Sunday, May 14 | 12 PM – 4 PM
Saturday, May 27 | 12 PM – 4 PM
Sunday, June 11 | 12 PM – 4PM

Wende Museum
10808 Culver Blvd, Culver City, CA 90230

From 1989 to 1993, it is estimated that ~1.4 million Jews left the Soviet Union in one of the largest mass emigration movements in world history. Some left because of blatant persecution; others sought to leave behind stereotypes and anti-Semitism. The Wende Museum’s Russian-Speaking Jewry Project showcases a growing archive of Refusenik samizdat (dissident publications) and related public programming engaging with the history of Soviet Jews and the Russian-speaking Jewish diaspora.

Los Angeles-based artist, Jenny Yurshansky, is part of this diaspora and through her community-based project, Rinsing the Bones, she is inviting the public to bring to the Wende Museum a small family heirloom object and to record a brief interview about the meaning behind the object and why it has been kept.

While Jenny interviews each participant, the objects will be 3D-scanned to be later reproduced as a 1:1 scale 3D print in white material resembling bone. Portions of the recorded interviews will be engraved onto X-ray film, reminiscent of Soviet “bone” records. Participants will be credited in Jenny’s upcoming Rinsing the Bones exhibition at 18th Street Arts Center, opening July 8th. People of all ages and backgrounds are encouraged to participate.

Time slots can be reserved here, though participants will also be accepted on a walk-in basis.

This is the first of five weekend sessions that will be hosted at the Wende Museum between April and June 2023.

This program is part of a yearlong series of programming illuminating the history of Soviet Jews, the Refusenik movement, and the Russian-speaking Jewish diaspora.

These workshops are related to Yurshansky’s upcoming exhibition at 18th Street Arts Center opening July 2023

This event is artist-led and organized; please contact the artist directly: https://wendemuseum.org/ with questions about this event.