For the last two decades, American photographer Gillian Laub has used the camera to investigate how society’s most complex questions are often writ large in our most intimate relationships. Throughout her career she has been simultaneously, and privately, documenting the emotional, psychological, and political landscape of her own family—exploring her growing discomfort with the many extravagances that marked their lives. Intense intergenerational bonds have shaped and nurtured Laub, but have also been fraught. Balancing empathy with critical perspective, humor with horror, the closeness of family with the distance of the artist, Laub offers a picture of an American family saga that feels both anguished and hopeful.

Frank Oz is a legendary actor, film director, and performer known widely for being the closest collaborator of Muppet creator Jim Henson. Oz originated and performed many iconic Muppet characters, including Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, and Cookie Monster, as well as Yoda in the Star Wars films. Oz’s path to performing, puppetry, and use of humor as a tool for both social critique and social good, was paved by his parents, Isidore (Mike) and Frances Oznowicz.

The teen years are instrumental in the creation of a sense of self. They are also a critical time in the creation of what psychologists from The Family Narrative Lab at Emory University call the “intergenerational self”—a self embedded within a larger familial history. In the fifth iteration of What We Hold, teens have created individual audio recordings reflecting on and connecting with their family histories.

The Contemporary Jewish Museum commissioned artwork by Sacramento-based artist Dave Lane to be placed in its soaring lobby space. The massive sculpture, entitled Lamp of the Covenant, is a 90-foot-long, six ton work suspended high over the heads of visitors. Attached to an enormous oval of steel are antique objects: world globes, light bulbs, tools such as nineteenth century apple peelers and blow torches, and various other objects that suggest the unfolding marvels of the cosmos.