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To Jews of Litvak origin in SA, the connection to Lithuania is obvious and emotional. “Invisible Bridges of Culture: Africa and Lithuania”, an exhibition of contemporary art from Lithuania, at the Rabbi Cyril Harris Community Centre in Oaklands, demonstrates the feelings are mutual.

The exhibition shows visual art and photographs of contemporary Litvak Jews. Supported by Lithuania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the exhibition’s organisers chose RCHCC for their internationally travelling exhibition, which leaves for Paris in early December.

Lithuanians have, since the Holocaust, been broadly reflected as anti-Semitic; like any blanket value judgment, this has proved speciously destructive in contemporary times.

Having emerged from under Soviet rule in 1990, Lithuanians are fiercely working toward artistic, spiritual and identity-based independence, as well as economic growth and cultural dignity. This is evident in the art, characteristic of contemporary Eastern Europe, coloured by modernist values with a young vibrancy, which offers an earnest sense of experimentation with technical possibility, akin in sensibilities to contemporary local art.

The artists are engaging with the notion of Africa rather than Africa itself; many of the pieces contemplate Picasso’s Negritude, Primitivist ideals or African ritual.

It is also evident in the photographs, a project of the Litvakes Foundation, reflecting the Jewish community of Vilnius celebrating chaggim and simchas.

But for the furs and warm clothes, these could be us, by virtue of their features, gestures, miens.  These Jews are repairing their identity, many with the help of Chabad, in the way that we have all done for millennia, with the celebration of Shabbat, weddings, Rosh Hashanah, Chanukah, Purim and all the ritual appurtenances that bring their magic and value.

As member of the Lithuanian community in SA, Jadvyga Kazlauskiené asserts: “This collaboration between Lithuanians is exhilarating. The Lithuanian community in SA numbers 60 in all. The Lithuanian Jewish community in Lithuania today stands at 6,000—62% of which are Holocaust survivors or their offspring. Like Jewish communities all over Europe, they are enjoying a Jewish Renaissance.” 

By Robyn Sassen