ART Habens Art Review ART Habens Art Review - Special Issue #97 | Page 192

ART Habens
Doria Sharra
friends, I took on the role of a motherly
yet colorful charachter, who dispenced
helpful albeit at times kinky advise to
my wonderful daughters, two of which
were male. A head of an alternative
family like in Paris is Burning and a
fashion icon in the middle of the
wilderness like in The Adventures of
Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Bruri
taught me what I always knew at heart
to be true - that it`s perfectly ok to be
a pink sparkly Elvis impersonator and a
female drag queen, at the very same
time.
My practice is deeply involved with the
topic of transformations, and I think
that it is the underlying theme of most
of my artistic production. I am intrested
in subjects that bring to light questions
regarding gender, sexuality and
parallel, imaganary and family
narratives. I usualy start with an image
or circumstance that sparked my
imagination and propeled me to
construct a conceptual structure for a
project. More often than not, these are
influenced by the socio-political
attitudes that I find are prevalent in
relation to the subject matter at hand.
My current project - Sideburns and
Quiffs part 2: Bruri, is an indirect
continuation of a previous project titled
You KLI is Wonderful!, in which the
images of Elvis and Elvis impersonators
palyed a central role. My current
project beagn with a photograph of
myself as a young child, cradeled in my
Mother`s arms, in her mother`s
appartment in NYC, right before we
moved to Israel. Observing my shy and
content expression, I imidiately felt an
urge to adorn my younger self with
Sideburns and Quiffs - the rock
legend`s famous hair style.
I agree, many artworks can be
considered political, even if they don`t
deal directly with specific political
conditions. My decision to address
questions concerning gender and
sexuality, and especially sexual
pleasure, as a female artist, definitely
constitutes a political stance.
The poroject`s protogonist - Bruri, is
named after a nick name and alter ego
of mine, from when I went to high
school in the desert area of southern
Israel. Within a close knit group of
Special Issue
I owe much of my political awareness
to my Mother, who was involved in the
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