During the Holocaust the Nazis tattooed the arms and stomachs of millions of Jewish people incarcerated in the Concentration Camps. This specifically and deliberately contravened Jewish law as proscribed in the Torah Leviticus 19.27-28: “Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo any marks upon you: I am the Lord.”
Jewess Tattooess explores the taboo of tattooing, in relation to the performer’s own Jewish heritage. It looks at the cultural and religious implications of a Jewish woman who, by choice is heavily tattooed: – tattooed not as a numbered victim, but as an autonomous individual.
Jewess Tattooess draws on images of traditional tattooed ladies as exhibits in sideshows, and examines Jewish superstition, folklore, religious rituals and symbols to create a performance language that combines actions and movement, film and video, original electronic sound and music, visual illusions and story telling. It also incorporates an action of live tattooing.
This performance contains scenes of nudity
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