Architectural historian Jay A. Waronker has spent the past five years painting detailed watercolor reproductions of synagogues in sub-Saharan Africa.
The synagogues are sprinkled throughout Zimbabwe, South Africa, Mozambique and Ethiopia, among other countries. While some are still in use by Jews, many now serve as churches, beauty salons and auto repair shops.
And while some are grand, ornate buildings, others are simple mud huts surrounded by lush greenery.
“Most people are inclined to look at Africa as this homogenous place,” says Waronker, an architect in Atlanta, “but there is tremendous diversity from country to country, synagogue to synagogue.”
Waronker’s diverse watercolor paintings will be exhibited Sept. 4 through Jan. 10 at Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco.
Waronker, who has also done paintings of synagogues in India, says one of his major aims is to preserve Jewish history, especially in areas where local Jewish culture is disappearing.
“I’m documenting existing synagogues in areas of the world where Jewish communities once thrived and have today become quite small for any number of reasons, political or social,” he says.
His other interest in the buildings comes from his background in architecture.
Waronker has worked as an architect in both Georgia and New York and has taught as a professor of architecture at Southern Polytechnic State University in Marietta, Ga.
His synagogue quest began in 1991, when he visited India in search of Jewish structures, backed by grants from the Asian Cultural Council, the Rockefeller Brother Fund and the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture.
In 2005, he was awarded a Fulbright grant to study and paint synagogues in sub-Saharan Africa — and off he went, digital camera in hand (he takes photographs of the synagogues, then paints his watercolor reproductions when he returns home to Georgia). He’s since been back to the region, and plans to visit again in the near future.
Recalling his first trip to India 18 years ago, Waronker says he thought documenting synagogues “would be a one-time experience.”
But “here I am [almost] 20 years later, [still] painting these synagogues. It has become a part of my life that I never expected, and that’s the lesson — you never know what can happen when you start a project.”
During his two years on the task, Waronker has had many eye-opening experiences — for better or worse.
There was the time was interrogated for hours by police in a small town in Zimbabwe.
Then there are other experiences that make it all seem worthwhile — like the time a fellow Jew picked him up from an airport in Zambia, spent the entire day showing him around local synagogues and fed him a hearty lunch. He also has been invited to numerous Shabbat dinners.
Waronker describes himself as an observant and active Jew, though not highly religious.
“Being Jewish is very important to me,” he explains. “I’ve connected so much more to my religion by studying its architecture.”
“In Search of the Synagogues of Sub-Saharan Africa” is on display Sept. 4 through Jan. 10 at Congregation Emanu-El, 2 Lake St., S.F. Jay A. Waronker will speak at the opening reception 6:30 p.m. Sept. 4. For details, visit www.emanuelsf.org.