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Davies Forum Explores Cultural Identity in Art
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Beverly Naidus (right), Davies Forum guest artist from the University of Washington, discusses a project with students.
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Cultural identity shapes not only a person's life, but it can also play a critical role in art, and this fall's Davies Forum explores the concept through the lens of Jewish artists.
The course, "Camouflage and Representation: Jewish Women in the Arts," focuses on the experiences of Jewish women and how they have addressed issues of culture and gender in their art, whether visual, literary or performance.
"It is our hope that by exposing our students to these issues while in college, we will empower them to feel proud of their heritage and gender and to embrace their rich complexities," said Paula Birnbaum, assistant professor of art history and chair of the visual arts department. "They are learning how to use critical artistic tools to make public their creative reflections on their own identities as young women."
Throughout the semester, students will hear from internationally renowned Jewish women artists and scholars. The public is invited to these free lectures.
Birnbaum and Sharon Siskin, assistant professor of studio art, were inspired to create and teach the course because of their backgrounds as Jewish women in artistic fields. The two noticed that some Jewish women artists did not feel empowered until later in their careers to incorporate a sense of cultural identity into their art, and believed students could learn from these experiences.
"We thought it would be a really interesting class for students interested in their own cultural, ethnic or gender identities," Siskin said. "We hope the students address their own issues of gender and cultural identity through their creative work, through writing, performance and visual arts. We really want them to think about where they come from, what makes them who they are."
The course attracted a group of all female students, representing a diverse range of backgrounds. Birnbaum said one young woman is coming to terms with her family's survival of the Holocaust, another student is from a Muslim family in Iran. The family backgrounds of other students include African American, Irish, Filipino American, Italian, and Native American cultures.
Upcoming free public lectures and performances include: "A Postcolonial Kinderhood," by Elaine Reichek, visual artist from New York City, on Nov. 8, 7 p.m. in the Maraschi Room of Fromm Hall; "Mingling My Jewness in Your Africanness: A Creative Partnership Traversing Challenging Terrain," by Zigi Lowenberg and Raymond Nat Turner of UpSurge, an Oakland-based jazz and poetry ensemble, on Nov. 15, 1:30 p.m. in the Maraschi Room of Fromm Hall; "Ronnie Gilbert: A Radical Life with Songs," by Ronnie Gilbert, a Berkeley-based performance artist, on Nov. 29, 7 p.m. in the Maraschi Room of Fromm Hall. 
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