ZaHaVa Sherez

ZaHaVa Sherez is an international artist using her art for social and spiritual activism. GLIDE reflects her own deeply held values, she says. She supports GLIDE in many ways—by donating, participating in Celebration services whenever she’s in town, volunteering, and leaving a legacy by including GLIDE in her will.

“I have four countries I call home, on three continents” says ZaHaVa Sherez, who was born in Argentina, grew up in Israel and moved to the United States as an adult, and now lives and works primarily in Mexico. Her multicultural life experience helped shape her understanding of what it means to be human and informs her connection to GLIDE.

“I’ve always believed that humanity is like a beautiful flower garden: all shapes and colors and forms. At GLIDE, I found a place on the planet that speaks my language, where humanity is the way I see it and I believe it should be.”

This vibrant viewpoint was born from traumatic life experiences. “As a little girl in Argentina, I was attacked for being a Jew. In Israel, I experienced wars as a child, a soldier, a young wife and a mother. Tension and violence were very much a part of our life. The one thing that kept me sane and balanced was art making.”

ZaHaVa moved to the United States in 1985, living first in Connecticut and later in California. She wanted to raise her younger son in a diverse community therefore they chose to settle in Oakland, in 1995, where ZaHaVa opened her art studio and school. She retired from teaching in December 2019. Currently, she lives and works mostly in Chapala, MX, and travels the world with her InBodied Light sculptures, a body of work that includes 50 faceless and genderless sculptures that speak about social justice and equality. The global tour’s kick off is at the Museum of Colonial Art in Havana, Cuba, in May 2023.

You can see ZaHaVa’s work here.

Also, ZaHaVa has partnered with the Charter for Compassion, which you can see here.

Upon settling in the San Francisco Bay Area ZaHaVa began searching for a spiritual community. Her friends and family attended GLIDE and often told her about the wonderful affirming and inclusive Celebration services. She was skeptical. It wasn’t until her friends started talking about GLIDE’s social justice work that ZaHaVa started to pay attention. GLIDE’s focus on those marginalized in our society moved her deeply. “As an outsider myself, all through my life, I didn’t fit in anywhere. In my artwork, in my life and in my spiritual practice I have always focused on the outsiders—refugees, immigrants, the other—always emphasizing the commonalities between human beings.”

ZaHaVa decided to make a bequest gift to GLIDE in her estate plans because she feels that societal ills such as racism and inequity, which are only worsening, must be addressed. “My hope is that GLIDE will continue to be a light in the world. GLIDE walks the walk. I want my name and spirit to support not only my family, but also the things that I value, and one of them is definitely GLIDE.”

Considering making a transformative bequest to GLIDE via your will, trust, or estate plan? Need more information or have questions? Please call or email Planned Giving at 415-674-6186 or legacygiving@GLIDE.org, and we’ll be happy to assist you!