This article is a finalist in the 2024 DC College Student Arts Journalism Competition. Read more about the 2024 competition here.

Alex Woz grew up as an Argentinian Jew surrounded by hateful rhetoric, directly targeting his identity. When his family immigrated to Los Angeles, they were met with constant and rampant antisemitism; they had rocks thrown at them and swastikas were painted on his locker at school.

“Four of the nine kids I had invited to my Bar Mitzvah at age 13 turned out to be neo-Nazi skinheads only five years later,” according to Woz’s biography.

Woz, who’s now 26, felt the need to bury his identity, accumulating shame for an aspect of his identity that was constantly ridiculed.

Meanwhile, Woz grew up to be an artist– which he always had been, drawing encouragement from his artistic mother. His art didn’t reflect his Jewish identity; he originally painted landscapes and anatomy.

“Before my art had a meaning, before it had a purpose that existed outside of myself, it was purposeless. It was voiceless. It existed for no other reason that I liked to do it,” Woz said in an interview on Monday.

The antisemitism he faced finally hit a breaking point, and Woz decided to explore his Jewish identity rather than hide from it.

“I got in touch with my local Chabad, began studying Torah, and immersed myself in the Jewish community of Los Angeles, learning as much as I could from my peers,” Woz’s biography explained.

Woz began seeing artistic inspiration in his religious studies, and changed the focus of his creations.

“When I started making artwork for the Jewish people, and once my art actually had a purpose beyond itself, I became a lot more…motivated,” he said about his Jewish artwork.

He struggled to publish his art at first because he dealt with perfectionism and criticized his own work. He also knew that publishing unapologetically Jewish art would come with a price, namely his career, which was in designing album covers.

Woz was suddenly faced with a dilemma.

He had a question to ask himself: “Are you going to commit career suicide in the name of actually representing what’s right and what you know to be inherently true?”

According to Woz, his approach to Judaism used to be a “sanitized” way–with no mention of Israel or Zionism– just the most inoffensive, secular version of Judaism there is. He knew that in order to publish his Jewish art, he had to be willing to lose “friends”; those who invalidated Israel’s right to exist, especially after the events of Oct. 7.

“If I have to commit career suicide to maybe get this out there or to encourage more people to do this, I’ll be the first one,” Woz said.

After jeopardizing friendships and career opportunities to keep his identity, he made undoubtedly Jewish, Zionist designs.

“I expected more backlash, but I actually got way more love, way more people giving applause to me,” Woz said about his transition to Jewish art. “For every message that I get that’s hate, I get 500 that are of love.”

Now, Woz is confident in the impact his art has made.

“My Tikkun, my purpose in life, which is to make art, to empower Jewish people, really revealed to me the psychology of why artists share their art to begin with,” Woz said.

Woz’s art is known by Jewish creatives around the world, with over 30,000 followers on Instagram. Students at the University of Maryland feel inspired by his unique merging of art with Jewish values.

“We can be Jewish, but also be authentic to our artsy self, which isn’t really represented a lot,” said Lily Katz, a junior sociology major at the University of Maryland. “I think it’s even more powerful to merge your own interests with Judaism.”

Woz draws inspiration for his artwork from both of his parents. His mother’s artistry encouraged him to make art; she wanted for her son what she too dreamt of.

“[At] age 12 to 13, my mom had to work in a factory in Argentina, and she would take her paycheck to the paint store to buy paints,” Woz said.

Woz’s father loves ‘70s music, and the design of that era– album covers, funky prints– attracted Woz, which influences his unique, retro style of artwork. He is drawn by “things that are weird, things that don’t make sense, things that break rules.”

“I grew up listening to, you know, all of the best ‘70s music, like Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Genesis, all of these bands. And one of the things that I loved the most was the album cover,” Woz said. “The ‘70s was such a renaissance for great art and great design and great music.”

Orrin Berkeley, a senior animal science major at the University of Maryland, appreciated the modernity of his art.

“Jewish art in the past…always felt like it was a bit ancient, or at least a century old. It was very like, ‘Jewish culture is the Fiddler on the Roof,’” Berkeley said. “[His art] makes me feel as though I can be Jewish and keep it seriously, while being a modern person.”

Woz also pulls influence from E.M. Lilien, a printmaker and illustrator who captured the complex identities of Israelis in the early 1900s. Lilien photographed people in Israel and illustrated them, displaying true Jewish identities to the world.

“His work deals with Jewishness on a really real lens,” Woz said. “He showed that we are a Middle Eastern people…that we are an indigenous people, very profoundly.”

Woz continues capturing the Jewish diversity that Lilien did, aiming to represent the robust culture of Judaism and Israelis.

Woz encouraged students, especially Jewish artists, to stick with their identity, advocate for themselves and embrace their Judaism in everything they do.

He explained that Jewish artists have two options. They either have to take on the burden and pressure of being a Jewish artist, or “[create] art that’s not authentic. You’re creating art that’s not you, and that sounds like a punishment rather than a reward.”

Zoe Bayewitz is a writer and journalism major at the University of Maryland, College Park. She is the Features Editor for Mitzpeh, the university’s Jewish student publication. Her love for writing and design has channeled into music/entertainment reporting, graphic design and social media management. She hopes to combine her passions for travel, culture and the music industry with her writing and design skills, becoming a well-rounded and creative journalist.