Through video, photography, and installation, Israeli artist Tamar Nissim explores the experiences of women in mid-twentieth-century Israel.
Tamar Nissim’s videos, photographs, and objects explore how Western hygiene methods were interwoven with nationalist ideology to control women in mid-twentieth-century Israel. Nissim’s videos draw from personal interviews, archival research, and testimonies to trace the effects of these policies on women’s bodies and lives: Mizrahi immigrants who complied to prove themselves civilized; nurses who enforced strict hygiene protocols; mothers whose babies were taken away in what has come to be known as the Yemenite, Mizrahi, and Balkan Children Affair.
Glass bottles, bars of olive oil soap, and photographs of cleaning products extend the context of the videos, calling forth Nissim’s mother’s immaculate living room. Pairing audio of herself and her mother with footage of her daughter, Nissim forms a generational portrait. Unflinchingly, she confronts the legacy of trauma, how it remains in the body, and its possible ends.
Free and open to the public. All visitors must complete a Daily Health Assessment and comply with all Brandeis University COVID protocols.
Email: obaldwin@brandeis.edu
Additional time info:
Extended hours for the Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Creative Arts:
Saturday, April 30: 11 am - 3 pm
Sunday, May 1: 11 am - 3 pm
2022/03/10 - 2022/07/08
Kniznick Gallery at the Women's Studies Research Center, Brandeis University
515 South Street, Waltham, MA 02453
An accessible pdf of the exhibition catalog is available on the exhibition website.