Over the past month I have had the pleasure of presenting my work at four separate conferences:
American Academy of Religion Western Region Conference at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, March 20
Western Jewish Studies Association Conference at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, March 27
Conney Conference on Jewish Arts at the University of Wisconsin Madison, March 28
Graduate Professional Student Association Annual Conference, University of Nevada Las Vegas, April 1
About the Thesis:
In the Image of... (towards a Trans Talmud) is a visual art exhibition and series of work exploring Jewish legal texts and contemporary scholarship through a transgender lens. The work of the exhibition uses painted text and audio to create a space in which visitors are enveloped by the writings from prominent transgender theologians and the Babylonian Talmud. These writings include debates of the gender of Abraham and Sarah as eunuchs, gendered prohibitions against clothing and ritual garments, and the tale of how a man developed the ability to breastfeed a child. Drawing on queer time, post-Jewish theory, and iconoclastic tradition, the thesis investigates and speculates on intersex and transgender Jews in history in order to build queer-inclusive religious spaces.