Sara Erenthal is a Brooklyn-based multi-disciplinary artist and social justice activist. Drawing on her upbringing in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish family, her artwork touches on themes of liberation, alienation, and survival. Erenthal uses her practice as therapy to process her difficult past, to navigate relationships, and to empower movements for human rights.
After escaping an abusive home at 17 to avoid an arranged marriage, Erenthal spent a decade working odd jobs and dreaming of a fulfilling and creative life. Needing to escape once more, she traveled across the world, developing a daily practice of creating art, eventually finding her purpose.
Erenthal is self-taught and has worked across painting, sculpture, and performance. When not in her studio, she can be found on the streets painting provocative portraits on discarded objects, as well as creating large-scale murals. Over time, she began incorporating written messages into her art, beginning with the personal and shifting towards the political. She organizes with various progressive Jewish groups, and uses her art as protest and to spread messages of peace.
Erenthal's artwork has been presented in group and solo exhibitions including at the Museum of Jewish Montréal. She has created public art, as well as exhibited, across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and in Central America. Her work has been reviewed and profiled in The Jewish Week, Haaretz, Vice, The Village Voice, PIX11 news, CBS New York, Radio Canada, Time Out, Gothamist, The Brooklyn Rail, and Artnet, among others.
Image credit: Janna Akimova