Gender Identity in Contemporary Art: Women's Perspectives on Society, Culture, and Religion
- mail76643
- Feb 3
- 5 min read
Updated: Feb 28
February 6, 2025, Jerusalem, Israel / Online
As part of LASER Talks Jerusalem and LASER Talks CYLAND.
February 6, 2025, 1:00 PM (UTC +2) | 5:00 AM (EST) — Find your timezone here.
Online + President Hotel Arts Center, Ahad Ha’Am 3, Jerusalem, Israel.
Chair: Galina Bleikh
Speakers: Jungsuk Noh, Nataliya Kamenetskaya, Dana Pulver
Moderator: Daria Kesler
Organisers: INEMEA Art & Science Lab, CYLAND Media Art Lab.
The talk aims to foster dialogue between diverse approaches to gender identity in art, highlighting how women’s artistic narratives are evolving in response to contemporary challenges while preserving connections to cultural and religious traditions.
Jungsuk Noh (The Republic of Korea) in her talk, “Women’s Art in the Frame and the Power of Difference”, explores how the representation of women in art has evolved, transitioning from carriers of local cultural identity to objects of aesthetic and sensual consumption in contemporary society. The discussion will delve into how modern media perpetuates distorted portrayals of female bodies and identities, contrasting these with historical perspectives rooted in local cultural traditions. By examining the tension between globalization and regional identity within contemporary art, the talk will raise critical questions about the future trajectory of women's artistic expression.
Nataliya Kamenetskaya (Israel) in her talk, "After Him Who Sees Me..."(in collaboration with Michaёl Wogman),explores the artistic identity of Jewish women through three distinct groups: contemporary Israeli and American artists who consciously engage with religious themes; artists from the former USSR who express Jewish identity intuitively; and early 20th-century artists whose work was subtly shaped by their Jewish and feminine heritage. She highlights how these diverse perspectives intersect with and reflect Jewish tradition, offering a nuanced understanding of the interplay between art, identity, and heritage.
Dana Pulver (Israel) in her talk, “Dresstelling: Wearing Stories, Weaving Identity”, explores the interplay of pop-culture and Jewish wisdom, by transforming garments into narratives. Her project explores boundaries between self and world, Jewish and global, feminine and universal. Blending humor and insight, Dresstelling reimagines identity through wearable texts, offering a creative lens on the intersection of tradition, culture, and personal expression.
Galina Bleikh
Galina Bleikh is a multidisciplinary artist based in Jerusalem, Israel. Her creative expertise spans a rich spectrum of artistic domains, encompassing AI, 3D modeling, AR and VR, bio-art, generative art, and more. At the heart of her artistic pursuit lies a fascination with the profound synergy between the emerging artificial reality and its transformative interaction with human experience through art. Galina graduated from the Stieglitz St. Petersburg State Academy of Art and Industry (MA). Since 1993, lives in Jerusalem. Galina is a cofounder of the INEMEA Association for Art, Culture, and Education and the INEMEA Jerusalem Art & Science lab. Since 2024, Galina becomes a host of Leonardo ISAST Laser Talks Jerusalem.
Galina takes part in many exhibitions and conferences. Among them: Jerusalem Biennale (curator and participating artist, 2023–2024), ArtPlatform-On, Republic of Korea (2022), The CICA Museum of Modern Art, Republic of Korea (3 group exhibitions, 2023, 2024, 2025, and solo, 2021), NordArt, Germany (2019), Haifa Museum of Art, Israel (2018), LA Art Show USA (2013), Artco France Gallery, Paris (solo, 2012), Art Asia Miami (2011), etc.
Daria Kesler
Daria Kesler is a cross-disciplinary researcher and artist who works with human—and machine-generated texts, sounds, documentaries, scents, and video art. She is interested in using modern technologies and science to spread empathy toward all species and explore new ways of co-living between technology, humans, plants, and animals. Daria Kesler holds an MA in Art&Science (Hybrid—Technological and Bio Art) from ITMO University, St. Petersburg, Russia.
Jungsuk Noh
Jungsuk Noh was an adjunct professor at Gwangju Women's University and Chonnam National University for 30 years, fostering the younger generation. She worked as a co-curator of the Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art Special Exhibition and a director of the International Women's Arts Festivals in Japan and Malaysia. She established a 5+ nations platform called ‘Art Platform-On’ in 2021 and organized overseas exhibitions with co-curators from 5+ countries. Currently, she is the president of the International Visual Culture & Arts Association and the chairwoman of both the International Women Artists Federation – Gwangju Chapter, Republic of Korea and the Gwangju EPOQUE Society of Contemporary Art.
Starting with etching which subject matter was the May 18th Gwangju Democratic Uprising, she has worked as an artist in various art fields. She had 22 solo exhibitions in the Republic of Korea, France, Japan, USA, and Mongolia and more than 417 group exhibitions in different countries. To be specific, she had a solo exhibition France at Chapelle Saint-Julien and a two-person exhibition at Nicolas Poussin Museum in 2022. She participated in the etching triennale in France in 2023, and the Jerusalem Biennale in Israel and AAmA exhibitions in Hangzhou, China and Portugal in 2024.
Nataliya Kamenetskaya
Nataliya Kamenetskaya is a multimedia artist, researcher, and curator of international and regional art projects, she has exhibited her work in Sweden, South Korea, the United States, France, Italy, and Germany. Her academic and curatorial work explores shifting paradigms in scientific, philosophical, and sacred texts, as well as gender issues in visual arts.
She holds a degree in Fine & Applied Arts from Moscow Textile Institute (1981) and studied "Performing Gender: Cultural Studies, Literary Theory, and Visual Arts" at Central European University, Budapest (1997). In 1989, she co-founded the female creative studies group "Idioma Lab" and served on the editorial board of "IdiomaA" for Heresies journal #26 (1992). She helped organize pioneering feminist art exhibitions in Russia, including "Femme Art / Women Painting in Russia XV-XX Centuries" (State Tretyakov Gallery, 2002) and "ŽEN D'АRТ: The Gender History of Art in The Post-Soviet Space 1989-2009" (MMOMA, 2010).
Her international curatorial work includes the Hindelopa conference and exhibition in Sweden (1991) and International Women Art Festivals in Guangju, South Korea (2012-2016). She contributes to educational publications and art catalogs as both author and editor.
Dana Pulver
Dana Pulver is passionate about the depth and endurance of Jewish texts and traditions. She is constantly inspired by their capacity to engage with contemporary phenomena and illuminate them in a new light. She is the creator of the Talmudic Ballads project, which weaves poetic interpretations of Talmudic tales with European traditional music. This project offers a unique feminist perspective on ancient stories. Additionally, Dana founded Dresstelling, an exploration of the connection between text and fabric through clothing that bridges the gap between Jewish traditional expression and pop cultural imagery.
She has collaborated with various educational initiatives, including JDC, Hillel, Moishe House, and pluralistic beit midrash (BM) programs. Her expertise on Jewish texts has been published in various media outlets, such as Maariv Online and Makor Rishon. Additionally, her work has featured in Dirshuni, a groundbreaking compilation of women's midrashim. In 2023, she initiated and led the development and publication of the first Ukrainian Haggadah (Passover text). Currently, she is working on a new project: an illustrated edition of Perek Shira, dedicated to the memory of victims of the Nova Massacre.
Dana holds an MA in Cognitive Sciences from Hebrew University and a MSc in Molecular Biology from Ariel University. She was born in Kyiv, Ukraine and immigrated to Israel, where she currently resides in Maaleh Shomron.
