THE BOOK OF SARAH

Curators

Artists

Sarah Lightman

DRAWING ON A LIFE OF BAD DATES, GOOD BOOKS, FAITH AND MOTHERHOOD IN THE MISSING ‘BOOK OF SARAH’

The ‘Book of Sarah’ is missing from the bible, so artist Sarah Lightman sets out to make her own. Questioning religion, family, motherhood, and what it takes to be an artist, this is a deeply subversive visual autobiography set in the Jewish heartlands of north west London.

Sarah Lightman has been drawing her life since she was an undergraduate at The Slade School of Art. The Book of Sarah traces her journey from modern Jewish orthodoxy to feminist Judaism, as she searches between the complex layers of family that she has inherited and inhabited.

While the act of drawing came easily, the letting go of past failures, attachments and expectations did not. These narratives, illustrated by books and streets, buildings and objects, form Sarah’s life story, as we bear witness to her making the world her own.

Sarah Lightman is an artist, academic, curator, editor and writer living in London. She attended The Slade School of Art, where she won the Life Drawing Prize, Slade Prize and William Coldstream Award. She has been published in numerous academic books and journals, curated and shown in exhibitions, and has won many awards, including the Will Eisner Best Scholarly Book Award for Graphic Details. She has a PhD in women’s autobiographical comics and is co-founder of the network Laydeez Do Comics.

‘Full of the most wonderful drawings. An important feminist book – as well as a real joy to read.’—Bobby Baker

‘I loved this subtle memoir about Judaism, feminism, bad dates and good books, the families we are born into and the ones we make.’—Ariela Freedman

Drawings and paintings from The Book of Sarah will be exhibited at The Koppel Project Central from 27 April – 3 May 2019 10 – 6pm.