(Re)creating Rituals

Considerations on Art, Judaism, and Feminism

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47456/rf.rf.2133.50780

Keywords:

everyday life; ritual; motherhood; care; contemporary art

Abstract

This article investigates poetic and political aspects related to the theme of motherhood, situations that arise when inventing oneself as a mother and caregiver through the creation of an artistic work. The text addresses the conception and development of a novel artistic intervention reinventing the minyan; a Jewish ritual marked by male protagonism, referring to the minimum quorum of ten adult Jewish men required for a public prayer. The proposal is to compose a minyan exclusively for women, reinventing and updating traditions, and thereby seeking to find meanings within them linked to contemporary issues. To anchor these approaches, connections are made with Jewish feminism in the work of visual artist Mierle Ukeles and German and Austrian Jewish salonnières, as well as notions proposed by authors Natalie Wichmann and Charlotte Burns.

Author Biography

  • Viviane Gueller, PPGAV-UFRGS

    She is a visual artist, journalist, and mother of Stela. She holds a PhD in Visual Arts from PPGAV/UFRGS with a sandwich period at the University of Lisbon/Portugal. She has a Master's degree in Visual Arts from the same institution. She was awarded by the Funarte National Network Visual Arts Program, 11th edition (2015). In 2012, she participated in the Mobile Radio of the 30th São Paulo Biennial.

References

ARENDT, Hannah. A condição humana. Rio de Janeiro: Forense Universitária, 2007.

BILSKI, Emily D.; BRAUN, Emily. Jewish Women and Their Salons: The Power of Conversation. New York and New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005.

BURNS, Charlotte. Transcript #74 On the Ground in L.A. In other words, Sotheby's. 2020. Disponível em: https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/transcript-74-on-the-ground-in-l-a. Acesso em 12 dez. 2024.

FRASER, Nancy. Capitalismo canibal. São Paulo: Autonomia literária, 2022.

GARCIA, Carolina Gallo. Mierle Ukeles entre a arte e o trabalho de manutenção. Disponível em: https://www.e-publicacoes.uerj.br/index.php/intersecoes/article/view/62488. Acesso em 25 nov.2022. Acesso em: 8 dez. 2025.

GUELLER, Viviane. Imagem-Experiência: uma ação poética entre brechas da vida cotidiana. (Doutorado em Artes Visuais) - Programa de Pós-Graduação em Artes Visuais, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, 2021.

KRASNY, Elke. Reunindo feministas resistentes: curadoria de salões e de jantares. In: PEDROSA, Adriano, CARNEIRO, Amanda, MESQUITA, André (Orgs). História das mulheres, histórias feministas: antologia. São Paulo: MASP, 2019.

SOMMER, Michelle Farias. Mãelhação: mulheres-artistas-mães-acadêmicas-etc. e o sistema das artes. Arte & Ensaios, vol. 28, n. 44, jul.-dez. 2022. Disponível em: https://revistas.ufrj.br/index.php/ae/article/view/56431. Acesso em 02 out. 2024.

SPERBER, David. Mikva Dreams: Judaism, Feminism, and Maintenance in the Art of Mierle Laderman Ukeles. Panorama: Journal of the Association of Historians of American Art 5, no. 2 (Fall 2019), https://doi.org/10.24926/24716839.1958. Disponível em: https://journalpanorama.org/article/mikva-dreams/ Acesso em: 14 abr. 2025.

WICHMANN, Natalie. Motherhood and art. Where is the solidarity? Schirnmag, 2021. Disponível em: https://www.schirn.de/en/magazine/interviews/2021_interview/motherhood_and_art_where_is_the_solidarity/. Acesso em: 20 out. 2022.

Published

30-12-2025

Issue

Section

Artigos

How to Cite

GUELLER, Viviane. (Re)creating Rituals: Considerations on Art, Judaism, and Feminism. Farol, [S. l.], v. 21, n. 33, p. 208–220, 2025. DOI: 10.47456/rf.rf.2133.50780. Disponível em: https://periodicos.ufes.br/farol/article/view/50780. Acesso em: 4 feb. 2026.