The exhibition introduces the life and work of Maimonides, also known as the Rambam, a polymath rabbi, philosopher, and physician born in 12th-century Córdoba (present-day Spain).

Over the course of his life, Maimonides travelled across the Mediterranean, from Fez (Morocco) to Fustat (Egypt). His thinking was shaped by Greek, Jewish, and Islamic cultures and intellectual traditions. Maimonides from Scratch centres on a series of workshops held at Manchester Jewish Museum and in Marseille with groups of schoolchildren. These workshops invited creative responses to Maimonides’ life and ideas through stop-motion animation, storyboarding, and graphic novel design.

The project explores how key themes from Maimonides’ life – movement, language, and encounter – connect to the experiences of Jewish communities today. It also seeks to broaden our understanding of his legacy by engaging with the Genizah (archive), where many of his documents were preserved, and by examining his use of Judeo-Arabic.

Based on an original idea and research by Samuel Sami Everett. Curated by Anoushka Alexander-Rose, Anastasia Badder, Eliaou Balouka, Sami Everett and Sonya Nevin. Stop-motion animation methods: Anastasia Badder and Graphic novel by Odélia Kammoun. Animated film by Steve Simons (Panoply).

The exhibition can be enjoyed as part of General Admission to the museum.

ABOUT THE CURATORS

Anoushka-Alexander Rose, Anastasia Badder, Eliaou Balouka, Sami Everett, Odélia Kammoun, Sonya Nevin and Steve Simons are researchers from the University of Southampton (Parkes Institute for the Study of Jewish/non-Jewish Relations and Winchester School of Art), the University of Cambridge, and Birkbeck, from the fields of anthropology, psycho-social Studies, literature, and Jewish Studies, and artists (UK/France) working in animation and graphic novel design.