Gerry Judah’s grandparents came from Baghdad to settle in the already established Baghdadi Jewish community in India and Burma. Judah was born in 1951 in Calcutta and grew up there before his family moved to London when he was ten years old.
As a boy, the dramatic landscapes of India and the ornate architecture of its temples, mosques and synagogues with their theatrical rituals had a profound effect on Judah’s developing psyche. He studied Foundation Art and Design at Barnet College of Art (1970–72) before obtaining a degree in Fine Art at Goldsmiths College, University of London (1972–75) and postgraduate Sculpture at the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London (1975–77).
After college, Judah set up his studio in Shaftesbury Avenue, the centre of theatre in London’s West End. In order to finance his large-scale sculptures, he took casual work around the corner in many theatres as a stage hand, prop maker and scenic artist. Taken with the public nature of this work Judah decided to find settings for his own art in more public arenas than the rarefied spaces of conventional galleries. He began to build a reputation for innovative design working in film, television, theatre, museums and public spaces. Judah was also commissioned by the Imperial War Museum in London to create a large model of the selection ramp in Auschwitz-Birkenau for the Holocaust Exhibition opened by Queen Elizabeth II.
