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BARD’s new art series “The Strength of Survivors” is a blend of her most cherished fictional show with the story of her real-life people. 

This piece, “Home”, is the first in the series. It depicts Avatar Aang. As “the last airbender”, Aang is the last survivor of a genocide which wiped out the Air Nomads and their ancient culture. Yet Aang persists in keeping the memory of his people alive. He lives by their values of peace and spirituality; he reconnects with the sacred animals of their culture; he restores their sacred temples; and he eventually has a son and grandchildren, who lead a new generation of Air Nomads. These themes are deeply relevant to the Jewish experience, both in terms of the tragedy of the Holocaust and the miracle of Israel’s emergence and survival. Each time we participate in Jewish culture, or have a Jewish child, we are doing our part, like Aang, to keep our own culture alive.

BARD has always deeply connected with “Avatar: The Last Airbender” and its sequel show “The Legend of Korra”. She appreciates their rich and difficult themes, such as the trials of war; the difficult road to peace; colonization; culture; peoplehood; sovereignty; and more. The theme of indigeneity is subtly tied into the show as well, with references to real peoples such as Inuit and Yu’pik, used to inform the Water Tribe look and story. Reflecting on the series after Oct 7, many of these themes deeply resonated and took on new meaning, inspiring BARD to explore the world of Avatar through an Am Yisrael lens, as an indigenous people rebuilding a nation.