TABOO

SCULPTURE

SHMIRAH

In this new monumental sculptural work, I reflect on becoming a Hockey Goalie, which took place over the last 12 months. Through the manipulation of intentional materials; the casting of my own body in garlic, the consideration that mythological creatures bring forth injuries; the sexual thrill of rough play in a male dominated space and the wild release that comes with consensual humiliation, I interrogate how this brutal practice functions as a direct path to the divine.

“In my mind, this was not a simple somersault, something like an altar was glittering before me.” Kalonymus Kalman Shapira of Piaseczno

AUDIO STORY/ INSTALLATION

Relativity: MONA

Using archival tape and new interviews, my brother Michael and I investigate the family stories we grew up with. We discover how those closest to us have shaped culture and affected our lives: with fame, money, betrayal, inspiration, and love. In this episode, meet great aunt Mona, daughter of a cantor and a charismatic, powerful show-woman whose push against social conventions both appalled and enthralled. Is taboo relative?

“Return, rebellious children” Hagiga 15a

ART

Everything is at least three things : the one you see, the one you think you know and the one you remember.

A multi-part installation that investigates, dissects and reconfigures quotidian elements into sculptural situations, a hand-sewn long poem chapbook, and a Duchampian readymade sculpture. Drawn from selected histories of three blood-related women with their contradictions and consequences.

“And he said: ‘What pledge shall I give thee?’ And she said: ‘Thy signet and thy cord, and thy staff that is in thy hand,’ And he gave them to her, and came in unto her, and she conceived by him.” Genesis Chapter 38-18

PHOTOGRAPHY

Family Estrangement Starts at Home

Four 16x20 photos will be picked, poked and manipulated with materials expressing things are not always as pretty as they seem. Taboos are toxic.

“Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.” Genesis 4

FILM/PERFORMANCE

Art Jew

A work-in-progress documentary feature which investigates the life and legacy of Alfred Flechtheim, a gay Jewish art dealer in pre-war Germany who discovered and championed the greatest avant-garde artists of his generation, yet who died in disgrace, persecuted and reviled as the (literal) face of “degenerate art.” His extraordinary story is revealed in part through the dramatization of letters, diaries and observations by Flechtheim and his contemporaries, portions of which will be performed live in this excerpt.

“You may eat freely from every tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.” Genesis 2:17

DANCE

excerpt from If I Give You My Sorrows

What secrets do we leave in our beds? What wounds do we bury there? How do our beds hold what is messy, tragic, grueling? How is your Bed an Antidote? I asked these questions to three currently and formerly incarcerated women.

“Do not let your mouth bring your flesh into guilt.” Ecclesiastes 5.5

*photo: jack Beutler
pictured: natalya shoaf, Sonshere Giles, Jhia Jackson

SCULPTURE

Home-land

Where the diasporic and displaced lineage meets whiteness is ground far from feet. How can my body rest? Through relationship.

“This is Torah and I must learn.” Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 62a

INTERACTIVE INSTALLATION

Dreydl: Zol Zayn Mit Mazel

A Gematria slot machine; it speaks to the mystic, the gambler, and the Torah scholar. Beginning with a slot machine adaptation of dreydl, the interactive installation brings the player into the world of paylines and card counting combined with the Jewish mystical practice of alpha-numeric text interpretation.

“The strange thoughts of today do not resemble the strange thoughts of tomorrow – this is evident to those who pay attention.” Ya’aqov Yosef of Polnoye (d.1784), Toledot Yaaqov Yosef, parshat vayakhel.

WRITING & ILLUSTRATION

Advanced Camouflage Techniques for the Built Environment

A collection of writing, illustration, and mixed media imagery that examines the deeply personal, tragic, mysterious, and sometimes humorous aspects of living with conditions that are chronic, invisible, and often undiagnosable or incurable.

“What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be numbered.” Ecclesiastes 1:15

ART/PERFORMANCE

On My Tongue and In My Hand: Fragments from the Fire

My drawings and stories explore taboos concerned with what we see, say and make in Jewish tradition. Like many taboos, these actions can sanctify and defile. In one story, we see Frankenstein as the Chief Librarian and Shomer (Guardian) of the Great Library of Alexandria while it is burning. The creature, neither alive nor dead, rescues sacred letters as they are released to the air from burning scrolls. The creature collects the fragments of paper and brings them to the Cairo Geniza for protection and eternal rest.

“The blessed Holy One said: “I am not pronounced as I am written. I am written Y-H-[V-H] and pronounced Ad[onai].” Babylonian Talmud, Qiddushin 71a

“You shall not make for yourself a sculptured image, or any likeness of what is in the heavens above, or on the earth below, or in the waters under the earth.” Exodus 20:4