Welcome the Stranger: Interreligious Lessons from Zazu Dreams

Over 100 of Sephardic artist Micaela Amato’s paintings populate the creative non-fiction book, Zazu Dreams. The exhibit of 30-40 paintings are hung salon-style or in a grid. As a representation of sedaka (acts of righteousness, charity, justice), these images include portraits of champions of humanity: human rights’ activists, environmental justice fighters, artists, and humanitarians committed to creating a just and peaceful world. Depicted subjects include: Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Women’s Rights, Freedom Struggles, Anti-Colonialism and Anti-Fascism, Civil Disobedience, Economic Justice, Advocates of Underserved Peoples/ Communities, Health Justice, Racial Equity, Ocean and River Health, and Cross-Cultural Conviviality. Through a political imagination that debunks capitalist-hyper-consumer us-versus-them thinking, this exhibit can deepen activists’ and scholars’ commitment to unpredictable and playful interdisciplinary, intergenerational, and interspecies storytelling.