- Object Name:
- Alms Container
- Artist/Maker:
- Tony Berlant
- Bio:
- American, b. 1941
- Title:
- A Leg Up
- Place Made:
- Santa Monica, California, United States
- Date:
- 1998
- Medium:
- Found metal collage on plywood; steel brads
- Dimensions:
- 8 3/8 × 8 1/4 × 6 7/8 in. (21.3 × 21 × 17.5 cm)
- Credit Line:
- Purchase: Gift in honor of Joyce and Steven Bloom's twenty-fifth wedding anniversary by their friends
- Accession Number:
- 1999-2
Not On View
"Anonymous charitable giving is an aspect of the Jewish tradition that I am especially drawn to and proud of. In Hebrew, the word tzedakah means justice. The anonymous gift is removed from the possibility of public self-aggrandizement and becomes a quest for fundamental human justice.
"For me, the house image is metaphor for the individualized world each of us constructs outside of our own body. Our home is our castle. It represents the place where our most basic human needs--food, shelter, privacy, and the dignity of the individual--are met.
"In America, where social Darwinism is a prevailing philosophical stance, homelessness is commonplace.
"The Tzedakah Box provides a place to make a private gesture toward greater human justice in the world."
Tony Berlant, 2001
"For me, the house image is metaphor for the individualized world each of us constructs outside of our own body. Our home is our castle. It represents the place where our most basic human needs--food, shelter, privacy, and the dignity of the individual--are met.
"In America, where social Darwinism is a prevailing philosophical stance, homelessness is commonplace.
"The Tzedakah Box provides a place to make a private gesture toward greater human justice in the world."
Tony Berlant, 2001
Information may change as a result of ongoing research.