Faith Keepers

48 illustrated bubble gum wrappers, cling/removable wallpaper, wrapped bubble gum, 96”-120’” x 120” x 60”, 2025

Faith Keepers serves as a digital combine that reconciles personal nostalgia with a broader geopolitical consciousness, drawing on the artist’s childhood immersion in Jewish and Israeli culture through the ubiquitous imagery of Bazooka Joe. By re-envisioning the leaders of the Twelve Tribes of Israel and the Twelve Princes of Ishmael within a contemporary timeline, the installation creates a bridge between ancient tradition and modern cultural discourse.

The work employs a multi-layered material strategy called “digital combine,” pairing large-format wallpaper and physical ephemera with LED tablets that display pixelated animations. Each of the 48 original-style comic strips features a recurring, aging Bazooka Joe as a collaborator and sympathetic witness to these biblical figures. In doing so, Faith Keepers transforms the playful, disposable aesthetic of the classic comic strip into a sacred space of inquiry, asking viewers to consider how the narratives we inherit in childhood might be repurposed to build a more unified and peaceful future.