RICHMOND, VA.- Sèva Izrailova remembers leaving the Soviet Union as a child with her family in 1997. Her parents, like many others who decided to emigrate, wanted to provide better opportunities for their children than those available in their homeland.

“I didn’t know what America was about except freedom, cause that’s why we were coming here – freedom,” says Izrailova, now a resident of Richmond, Va.

Her family’s transition to America came with both difficulties and successes. When Izrailova entered the American school system, she struggled with the language barrier, which made her schoolwork especially challenging and incited teasing from other students. Jewish Family Services in Richmond helped her and other immigrants tackle those kinds of obstacles.

Izrailova’s story is one of many that have been incorporated into a multi-part community project, “Draw Back the Curtain,” a year-long series of events culminating in a gala premiere of a documentary film produced by University of Richmond students, alumni and community members.

The opening event, an exhibition titled “The American Dream, Right? Exhibiting Soviet Jewish History in Richmond,” opened Dec. 6 in three University of Richmond venues: Lora Robins Gallery of Design from Nature, University Museums; and International Gallery, Carole Weinstein International Center, both on the main campus, and the Wilton Companies Gallery at UR Downtown, 626 E. Broad St.

The exhibition encompasses many sides of the story of immigration, focusing on the Fourth Wave of Soviet Jewish immigrants who left behind family, friends, language and professional identity in the late 1980s and early 1990s to create a new life in Richmond. The history and stories of this multi- generational community are told through interviews, photographs and personal belongings.

“I am so proud to be living here,” said Izrailova, who became a U.S. citizen. “I get to go to college and become whoever I want to become, study whatever I want to study and not have anyone tell me no you can’t… it’s living the dream, the American dream, right?”

Each location focuses on a different aspect of the immigrant experience. The Lora Robins Gallery features the stories of immigrants as told in their own words. Through photographs, quotes, interactive maps and interview clips, the presentation guides visitors through the Soviet Jews' process of immigration and acclimation to American culture. Visitors will gain an understanding of what it was like to be a person of Jewish heritage living in the secular Soviet Union and what challenges immigrants faced when pursuing a new life in Virginia.

The International Gallery presents a selection of photographs taken by Kathleen Laraia McLaughlin, who created a series of portraits of Soviet Jewish immigrants who settled in Richmond in 1997-98. They were part of a project McLaughlin created while working on an M.F.A. degree in photography at VCU and were featured in an exhibition at the Weinstein Jewish Community Center (JCC) in Richmond in 1998. A freelance photographer, McLaughlin has received a Fulbright Senior Scholarship, a National Endowment for the Humanities grant and a Houston Center for Photography Fellowship. She teaches at Loyola Marymount University, Cal State Fullerton, the Academy of Art University San Francisco and the New York Film Academy.

At UR Downtown, visitors can see the work of volunteers from Jewish Family Services and Project Exodus. Primarily photographs, the presentation features images of the immigrants' lives in the former Soviet Union and after their resettlement in Richmond as well as articles from the 1980s and 1990s printed in The Reflector, a newspaper published by the Jewish Community Federation of Richmond.

The exhibition was organized by University of Richmond Museums and curated by the following students enrolled in Seminar in Museum Studies at UR: Samantha Byrne, Betsy Chester, Elizabeth Dorton, Deborah Fajuyigbe, Rene Felt, Andrew Jones, Haley Jones, Hayley Mojica Morales, Kenta Murakami, and Veronica Shreve.

The class and project were coordinated by Laura Browder, Tyler and Alice Haynes Professor of American Studies; Alexandra Byrum, educational programming coordinator at UR Downtown; and N. Elizabeth Schlatter, deputy director and curator of exhibitions, University Museums.

This exhibition is a component of “Draw Back the Curtain,” a multi-year project that culminates in late 2014 with a documentary film produced by University of Richmond students, alumni, and community members. The endeavor was established through a partnership with Jewish Family Services and the University of Richmond Hillel and was initially funded in part by the Richmond Jewish Foundation. "The American Dream, Right?" received additional support from the University of Richmond's University Museums, the Bonner Center for Civic Engagement and UR Downtown, Boatwright Memorial Library, and International Education.