When it comes to art, Assistant Professor of History Magda Teter is a woman not easily deterred. While on sabbatical in Israel a few years ago, Teter was intrigued by a glowing review of an art exhibition by Hagit Molgan at the Kibbutz Be’eri. Since public transportation would be closed on a Saturday in Israel she decided to bike the fifty miles to the gallery.
Teter’s cycling marathon resulted in a boon to the Wesleyan community in the form of “Not Prepared,” the first international showing of Molgan’s artwork currently on display in the Zilkha Gallery. The show, curated by Nina Felshin, is both culturally important and formally pleasing.
“Not Prepared” is an exploration of gender roles and inherited norms through the traditional laws of Niddah. Niddah is the period of separation undergone by observant Jewish women during their menstrual cycles. All physical contact between women and men, including spouses, ceases from the first day of bleeding until seven days after the last sign of blood. After this period of separation the women go to a ritual bath, or mikvah, to be checked for and cleansed of impurity.
“For many observant Jewish women, these rituals represent womanhood and are central to their identity as observant Jewish women,” Teter said. “There is no single response to the laws of purity just as there is no single voice of observant Jewish women.”
The art in Molgan’s exhibit both fits into and transcends the traditions of feminist and found art. In the tradition of Marcel Duchamp, Molgan changes and questions the inherent meaning of everyday objects by moving them into the gallery space.
The piece with simulated red blood stains is made of the bedika inspection cloths used to check if a woman is done with her menstrual cycle. The quilted construction of the inspection clothes reclaims traditional “woman’s work” while creating a piece that is gorgeous on a purely aesthetic level: the deep red dots on a creamy white background would look fetching over a mantelpiece. There is also a video installation and pieces that encourage the audience to add to the work on the walls, creating a room of art that forces the viewer to engage.
Teter organized a conference in conjunction with the exhibit on Sunday, Jan. 29 entitled “Women, Bodies, and Rituals.”
One of the lectures was given by the artist, a member of the Saad religious kibbutz near the Gaza Strip. An engaging speaker, Molgan articulated how her work pertains not only to strictly observant Jewish women but also to anyone questioning accepted female practices and roles. Judaism is not the only major religion that assigns women specific and frequently unequal gender roles, she said.
Molgan also raised the important point that it is harder in a secular society to regulate and discuss issues of menstruation due to a lack of clear practices and precedents, like the laws of Niddah. Menstruation is a natural process experienced by all women in their reproductive years on a regular basis, but in most cultures, including American, it is treated clandestinely and shamefully. For example, products like tampons are sold with a false sense of hygienic superiority to other menstrual product alternatives and then used as discreetly as possible.
Felshin said she believes the exhibition is of tremendous importance to the Wesleyan community.
“Any work that addresses unequal gender relations, as Hagit’s does, is terribly relevant in the current political climate in which women’s health and reproductive rights have come under attack,” she said. “And particularly relevant to young people who need to be vigilant about preserving these rights. Anything, in my opinion, including an art exhibition that reminds them of this, is very important.”
The stateside excitement for Molgan’s work has already extended beyond the Wesleyan exhibit, which closes on March 5. Wesleyan, along with the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Israeli Consulate in New York are involved in talks about potential future exhibitions in places as prestigious as the Jewish Museum of New York. Molgan, whose exhibit is being covered by a growing number of national newspapers, will stay at Wesleyan for about a month to teach before returning to Israel.
“[The exhibit] triggers thoughts about stuff beyond itself, and what more can you ask of art in these troubling times?” Felshin said.
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