ghosts and shadows

it has been a while since I last posted.... but my mind has been churning. I have been invited to be an artist-in-residence on the sisterhood blog at The Forward (an American Jewish newspaper) and so I've been busy with that project. I'm planning on doing a series of clothing pieces - each one based on the different ways clothing is used as a metaphor for meaning. there should be around 10 in total. I'm excited to do the work and get stuck in.

But.. this is what happens. You start working on one idea and then others pop into your head, whisper in your ear and tempt your imagination. Defeated, I have to admit that this would be a really interesting avenue to go down. A series based on the women in the Talmud who are unnamed and yet are a vital part of the story. They lurk in the shadows and haunt the text. Never really having a body, a full fleshed out character - they remain a ghost-like presence on the page...



First up is Rabbi Yochanan's sister. Married off to Reish Lakish to legitimise her brother's chavrutah, she alone is left when the two men argue to death and insanity. She is like the Shechinah, trying to hold the two opposing opinions together under her shelter. But she cannot overcome stubborn men who know they are right, and becomes a lonely widow....

this won't be a series of dresses... or it might be... right now it is just an idea that is forming. it may be more paper-cutting - but playing with the shadows. it might be layers of embroidery on transparent ghost-like fabric...

but whatever it will be. I think I need to find these women and tell their stories.