THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT. Please contact austin@imjm.ca if you would like to be put on a waitlist.

What gives talismans their protective power? And how do they shape our relationships to people and place?

These sentimental objects can help us find one another, and keep us safe on the way – but today, the majority of Jewish amulets and jewellery are mass-produced, with the universal taking priority over the local and personal. In this event we’ll be taking the creative process back into our own hands.

Join us for an amulet-making workshop with micrograntee and Judaica designer Mika Benesh. Starting with a group exploration of our relationships to talismans, participants will work together to create protective amulets for one another using jeweller’s modelling wax, which will then be cast 1:1 in sterling silver and yours to keep. No prior jewellery-making experience is required. Come solo or with a loved one.

In this local and intimate setting, we’ll be particularly attentive to the experiences and needs of marginalized people, and the ways we already know how to find and take care of each other by making meaning and joy.

Participants are encouraged (but not obligated!) to bring along any protective talismans, amulets, or objects of theirs they feel comfortable, as well as any texts, blessings or stories they hold close– they don’t necessarily have to be Jewish either. Hybrid experiences, practices, identities and cultures are most welcome. Due to very limited capacity, early sign-ups are encouraged.

About Mika:

Mika Benesh is a designer-researcher working between unceded Gadigal + Dharug Country and Tiohtià:ke in the australian and canadian colonies. Broadly speaking, they trace relations between cultural institutions and archives, Jewish material cultures, queer / trans lives & movements, white supremacy and settler colonialism. As well as writing, they work with metal, graphite, textiles, and interactive digital media. Across their practice, Mika is interested in catching a small hold of many Jewish futures. Currently, they’re undertaking a Judaic Studies MA at Concordia University.

This workshop is a part of the Museum of Jewish Montreal’s Microgrant Program for Creative or Cultural Exploration, which is funded by the Quebec Community Group Network's Community Innovation Fund. We also thank the Jewish Community Foundation of Montreal (JCF) for their support.