La Mama Galleria & The Invisible Dog: JEWESS  – March 12 – APRIL 13

ABOUT

La MaMa Galleria & The Invisible Dog  are thrilled to present JEWESS, an exhibition by Danielle Durchslag.

 

Visual artist Danielle Durchslag designs costumes, inspired by both fashion and Jewish ritual, that she wears to portray female characters of her invention with distinct, oppositional approaches to contemporary Jewish identity and politics. Each of the three personas is tethered to a specific Jewish holiday and set of political values.

The exhibition includes large-scale photographs of Durchslag posing as each character, videos of her performing as these personas, and life-sized, fully costumed mannequins of all three figures, physically positioned to reflect their personalities and dynamics with one another. Collectively, the female trinity presented here forms a portrait of some of the most meaningful divisions and tensions present, amongst and between Ashkenazi Jews, in post-World War II life, from a place of joy and play.

For Sabbath Queen, Durchslag employs Queen Elizabeth I of England’s aesthetics to depict Judaism’s most famous female monarch – the invisible, holy entity whose weekly Sabbath visits every Friday begin the holiday. In Durchslag’s interpretation, this figure embodies conservative Jewish political power, right-wing Zionism, and empire. She’s a haughty, superior, judgmental, lethally confident sovereign.

In contrast, Pesach Punk references the gorgeously aggressive visuals and sounds of the early London punk movement to portray the Angel of Death from the Passover holiday – a divine figure associated with murder and loss. This rebellious, passionately anti-Zionist woman asserts radical progressive dissent and pushback against widely accepted, politically conservative tribal norms. She is angry, righteous, and pained by her outsider status.

Finally, Taylor Bonnet re-envisions a 1960’s headpiece worn by glamorous film star, and Jewish convert, Elizabeth Taylor, as a visual celebration of Passover. This character contends with notions of assimilation and “passing” in privileged Ashkenazi circles. She balances her strong sense of Jewishness with a desire to copy, and hide within, elevated WASP aesthetics. A doyenne of the highest order, she is fun, glamorous, “non-political,” and purposefully oblivious to the fraught elements present in her set of identities. 

 BIO

Danielle Durchslag is an artist and filmmaker based in Brooklyn. She has exhibited around the world, including solo exhibitions at Denny Gallery, Yale University, and Four Corners Gallery, in London. Her work has shown at venues including The Jewish Museum, the Toronto Shorts International Film Festival, the Invisible Dog Art Center, The Jewish Museum of the City of Vienna, The Queens Museum, The UK Jewish Film Festival, Winkleman Gallery, The Jewish Museum of Maryland, The Bronx Museum, The Philadelphia Film and Media Festival, Foley Gallery, The Ackland Art Museum, The Moscow Jewish Film Festival, Davidson Gallery, The New York Jewish Film Festival, and The Cannes Short Film Festival. Danielle’s work has been featured in Artforum, The New York Times, Photograph Magazine, Time Out New York, Clarion Content, The New York Post, The Forward, The Huffington Post, Hyperallergic, Lilith, The New York Daily News, The Independent, The Jewish News, The New York Observer, Image Journal, and on NPR radio, among others. She has appeared as a guest on many podcasts, including Fake the Nation, Judaism Unbound, The Standard Issue, The Savvy Creative, Disloyal, and Jew Too?. Danielle is a selected fellow of the New Jewish Culture Fellowship. 

Follow Danielle Durchslag on Instagram 

THE INVISIBLE DOG

Since 2009, The Invisible Dog Art Center has been a home for artists, fostering innovation while honoring the past. Housed in a historic Brooklyn factory, the space has hosted exhibitions, performances, and a thriving community of creatives.

Until March 2025, The Invisible Dog Art Center was housed in a three-story former factory building in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. Built in 1863, our 30,000 square foot facility was the site of various industrial endeavors, most notably a belt factory that manufactured the famous Walt Disney invisible dog party trick, after which the center is named. The building remained dormant from the mid 1990s until 2009, when its founder Lucien Zayan opened The Invisible Dog Art Center.

On March 31, 2025, its original location has closed permanently. This marks not an end, but a transformation—The Invisible Dog has become a nomadic institution, collaborating with venues, festivals, galleries, universities, and partners worldwide. This evolution allows us to expand our reach, creating new artistic encounters beyond a single address.

Established in 2019, la Salle A Manger (SAM) is a private dining room adorned with artworks and with an open kitchen where Lucien Chef Ambition concocts before you a sophisticated and creative meals elaborated with attention. When you book a lunch or a dinner, or any event, 100% of the proceeds go to the artistic program at The Invisible Dog Art Center. It’s like a fundraising gala dinner but only with guests you love and much better food.

Though our walls have changed, our mission remains: to cultivate bold, boundary-pushing art with emerging artists in all their diversity. For years, artists have infused our space with their energy, making The Invisible Dog what it is.

As we embark on this next chapter, that spirit will continue to thrive—wherever we go.

Follow The  Invisible Dog on Instagram.