Oksman, Tahneer: “How Come Boys Get to Keep their Noses?”: Women and Jewish American Identity in Contemporary Graphic Memoirs (original) (raw)

Gender and Tradition in Art: The Response of Contemporary American Jewish Female Artists to the Absence of Women in Traditional Jewish Text and Ritual

The small group of artists who visually grapple with the discord between traditional Jewish practice and contemporary feminist ethos are creating a fascinating new area of religious discourse. They have initiated a form of religious commentary which could not have existed without their own familiarity with religious text and ritual since they examine not cultural Judaism, but traditional Jewish practice. Nor could this commentary have existed prior to the advent of feminism, which empowered women to join the art world and to express their feminist perspective on Jewish practice. Their American identity feeds into their empowerment as minority artists, yet that same identity created an appealing universalist pushback for years which has kept Jewish artwork with overtly religious, non- cultural motifs to a minimum in America. The contemporary artists interviewed by the author in this work approach conflicts of women in Judaism from two different angles: reactions to Judaism’s women-specific roles, expectations, and rituals; and the opposite, the absence of women in the tradition where women should rightfully be mentioned. This paper analyzes the approach of five contemporary American female Jewish artists whose work addresses the absence of women in traditional Jewish rituals, public life, legal processes, and original texts: Carol Hamoy, Helène Aylon, Susan Kaplow, Hana Iverson, and Andi Arnovitz. These artists were chosen because their work is directly inspired by their personal conflict with the often passive, “invisible” role of women in Judaism and specifically grapples with traditional sources and/or rituals. Despite their own conflict, none choose to destroy, ignore, or alter the sources or text, instead preferring to create art which raises their conflict to the fore in a more creative and thought-provoking way.

David Sperber/Jewish Orthodox Feminist Art in Israel The Mosse/Weinstein Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in Collaboration With 92Y Presents: The 7th Biennial Conney Conference on Jewish Arts Converging Movements at 92Y

The Mosse/Weinstein Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in Collaboration With 92Y Presents: The 7th Biennial Conney Conference on Jewish Arts Converging Movements at 92Y March 31 2019 | 92Y, 1395 Lexington Ave New York, NY 10128 1pm-1:30pm David Sperber/Jewish Orthodox Feminist Art in Israel 1:00pm-1:30pm David Sperber / Jewish Orthodox Feminist Art in Israel The feminist art movement of Jewish religious women in the United States and Israel emerged at the end of the 1990s. This paper examines Jewish feminist art being created in Israel—a country in which legislation has empowered Jewish Orthodox institutions with sole control over the personal status of its Jewish citizens. Through an examination of works by four Orthodox Jewish-Israeli women artists, I will demonstrate how they have formulated a broad, radical critique of the rabbinical institutions that govern the female body, particularly regarding menstruation, conversion, and modesty—topics that have bearing on their identity as women, Jews in general, and Orthodox Jews in particular. Considering the exclusion of women from spiritual leadership roles within the Orthodox Jewish world, I will underscore the importance of the art world as an alternative field of action through which religious feminists can make themselves heard.