Students push back against anti-Semitism with new art exhibit

Students from across the Tampa Bay area are teaming up to raise awareness about anti-Semitism with art and creative expression. A new art gallery has opened in a municipal building in Downtown Tampa.

Cora Bowen is a high school sophomore, and she won an award for her art piece. She used digital tools to create a colorful Star of David surrounding the faces of Jewish people depicted as coming from diverse ages, genders, and racial backgrounds,

“And kind of breaking those stereotypes, because that’s mostly what antisemitism is based off of: harmful stereotypes of the Jewish community. So I kind of wanted to make a piece breaking that down and showing different people.”

Joe Probasco is a board member of Jewish Federations of North America. He said that nothing compares to the mass murder of 6 million people, but recent Florida laws are still troubling.

“Any type of book banning, any type of silencing of speech, you know those are all precursors. Not so much things that will ultimately directly impact the Jewish community, but just democracy at large and will put our pluralistic democracy at risk.”

The 2^nd annual Shine a Light on Antisemitism contest is now a traveling collection, to be exhibited in locations around the community.