Sasha Wortzel – Tearing Meaning From a ‘River of Grass’

Sasha Wortzel says that her current work in film, photography, and printmaking is a form of kriah, the Hebrew word for “tearing” that refers to the Jewish practice of rending one’s garments in bereavement. A torn Key West baseball cap she found in the thrift shop at Provincetown’s Methodist Church hangs on the wall of her studio at the Fine Arts Work Center, where she is a visual arts fellow.

The Florida native notes the Key West-Provincetown connection. The hat is a ghostly nod to the effect of climate change on our coastline, she adds.

Kriah also shows up in the strips of torn python skin she was given after filming a mother-daughter hunting team in the Everglades. Wortzel repurposed the shiny snakeskin on two second-hand lawn chairs. Kriah also figures in her photographs of the effects of Hurricane Ian, which ripped through Florida in 2022.