What We Carry, an exhibition by Los Angeles-based artist Jenny Yurshansky whose artwork explores how the experiences of immigration and displacement impact people, both personally and collectively, comes to the Skirball Cultural Center on Thursday, Oct. 22.

Through community storytelling, the practice of sharing stories to preserve culture and foster connection, Yurshansky considers how we remember family history and how those memories shape our sense of home and belonging. The artist, whose work is deeply informed by her family’s experience as Soviet Jewish refugees, examines the narratives that are carried in our everyday objects and in our bodies, holding our stories even when one generation has tried to keep them hidden from the next.

In a series of workshops she conducted at the Skirball from January to July 2026, Yurshansky invited people from across Los Angeles to share their family keepsakes and the histories connected to their mementos. 

The exhibition pairs sculptural replicas of these personal items created through 3D printing alongside objects from the Skirball Museum’s permanent collection; for example, a 3D-printed replica of a workshop participant’s great-great-great-great grandmother’s serving spoon will be paired with a 19th-century spoon in the Skirball Museum’s collection. 

Skirball Cultural Center

Jenny Yurshansky’s Fugitive Archive (Courtesy Skirball Cultural Center)

Visitors will also have the opportunity to listen to the personal stories shared by participants in Jenny Yurshansky’s workshops through records reminiscent of Soviet-era “bone records.” The multimedia installation references domestic interiors and museum spaces, taking visitors on a journey of discovery, recognition, and understanding.

Highlights include: 

Jenny Yurshansky, Safe Passage (palto), 2026, Organza fabric, 3D-printed reproductions of personal objects contributed by workshop participants sewn into the coat.

This coat replicates the artist’s grandmother’s coat, which her grandmother made at the factory where she worked. Her grandmother left the Soviet Union wearing this coat, which is why the artist still has it today.

Jenny Yurshansky, Prayer Book, 3D-printed reproduction of personal objects contributed by workshop participants. This prayer book belonged to the participant’s late husband who was born in France. He used it to recite the Mourner’s Kaddish (a Jewish prayer in memory of the dead) when his mother passed away, just a year before World War II started. He carried it with him when he fled from Europe to the US.


The exhibition runs through February 28, 2027.