Introduction

Artist Spotlight: Hadassah Chavivah Zeltzer

Artist Spotlight: Hadassah Chavivah Zeltzer

We are shining our Artist Spotlight on Hadassah Chavivah Zeltzer! Hadassah is based in Brookline, MA and her body of work includes fine art, graphic art for her business and award-winning short film, music catalog, and spiritual product called The Gateway to Freedom Kit.

Hear more from Hadassah:

“I have tried to do as much advocacy as I could as an artist using all of these mediums of artistic expression to let people know they are not alone and to support social justice efforts and causes that continue to fight for equality and racial justice for the most vulnerable citizens  in our society. My long term goal is to set up a 501(c)(3) called The Queen Esther One Dollar Fund that will support clergy abuse survivors from all faiths with financial resources they need to rebuild their lives. Most of my work can be found on my company website Tzedeck.com. Tzedeck means Justice in Hebrew.”

“Light Amongst Darkness”: Light brown paint that swirls in different directions with some white and light blue paint mixed throughout.
“Light Amongst Darkness”

“‘Light Amongst Darkness’ is the first picture I made for my copyrighted Art collection of the same name. It was made with acrylic paint, paper, and I actually finger-painted it.  

This piece of art represents the pain and suffering of the most vulnerable citizens in the US today who are unable to access the quality care mental health treatment they need. Their voices and lives are being systemically oppressed and their potential for growth thwarted because they are not able to access the quality care they need and heal and move on with their lives. The name of this picture means that there is hope even in darkness when there is true accessibility and resources afforded to all those who truly need it, especially for the most vulnerable.”

“Narrow and Confined Place”: A drawing done with crayons on yellow legal paper shows the outline of a face in black crayon of someone who is crying with light pink, purple, light green, light blue, and dark blue crayon mixing together throughout.
“Narrow and Confined Place”

“‘Narrow and Confined Place’ is the second piece of fine art  from my first art portfolio I made when I was accepted to go to Cal Arts Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California as a fine arts student.  This was created when I had my first mental health crisis and made some of my best work while I was trying to process a lot of my feelings and was not in a space to talk.  I used Crayola Crayons and yellow Legal paper to make this work.”

“BedBugBed”: A photograph of Hadassah in bed that mostly shows a blue blanket pulled over her, with half of face and one hand visible
“Bed Bug Bed”

“This is a photo I took while I was living in public housing. The whole public housing project had bed bugs which is not so uncommon, but the time frame that it took the public housing authorities to resolve these issues took twice as long because most of the population was low-income and disabled.  I feel that these types of fair housing issues need to be revisited and amended to make sure that the policies that are in place now are updated to reflect the new information about trauma and mental health so when a disabled person with mental health disability needs a ‘reasonable accommodation’ the process and accommodation itself will be conducive to that person and their particular disability and not just the ‘one size fits all’ policies which we have now which are not helpful to those that have different types of disabilities. This photo was taken from my Mac Pro in real time while I was being bitten by bed bugs and I was able to make something very unpleasant into a piece of art like most artists do. I did all of the editing on my laptop using i-Photo.”

“Waves”: shades of light blue pant mix together to resemble water
“Waves”

“‘Waves’ is a piece of art I finger-painted.  This painting represents the spitting of the red sea and my hope for a miracle like that in my life and in all people’s lives that need this type of miracle the most!” 

“Hidden Desire”: a mostly white image with various black lines and in isolated spots to the left, right, and top center
“Hidden Desire”

“This last piece of art is a photo that I originally took for my short film ‘Hidden in plain Site’ also known as ‘A Reynah in Exile’.  It is me and my pseudo persona ‘Reynah’ expressing myself as a woman and a sensual person.  Having art as a way to express one’s sensuality is one way that I used to heal and feel safe when I was not ready to share or explore these feelings in a real relationship with someone else.”

Hadassah can be contacted at:

Image of Haddasah a white woman with chin length brown hair, wearing silver rimmed glasses, facing the camera with one hand placed on the side of her face.  At the bottom are the words: "the worst part of having a mental illness is that people expect you to behave like you don't have one"-Joker.  "A Reynah in Exile" an award winning tale about freedom from oppression.  #systemic oppression #broken mental health system
Hadassah Chavivah Zeltzer

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