Events
Becky Behar, Grounded, 2020, Archival Pigment Print, 15 x 20 inches
Becky Behar: Interlaced
On View January 30 - February 22, 2023
Becky Behar’s richly choreographed portraits and still lifes investigate motherhood, the passage of time, and what we carry through generations. Behar began photographing her three children as they became adults. The compositions reflect embellished autobiographical and fictional narratives about their transition to adulthood and Behar’s shifting identity. With incandescent subject matter emerging from rich shadows, the photographs evoke Dutch oil paintings, replete with symbols of transience, family, and faith. Behar punctuates the portraits with still lifes that mark the contemporary, rendering plastic bags luminous amongst cherries and figs. Here, home is an idea, not a place.
Gallery hours: Monday - Thursday 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Exhibition Events
Opening Reception and Artist Talk: Thursday, January 26, from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. at the WSRC | In celebration of the opening of Interlaced, Becky Behar will discuss her process, current studio practice, and the photographs on view in the Kniznick Gallery, January 30 – February 22, 2023. The artist talk will begin at 5:30 p.m.
REGISTER FOR THE OPENING RECEPTION AND ARTIST TALK
Artist-Guided Tour: Wednesday, February 8, 12:00 p.m. at the WSRC | Join artist Becky Behar on a guided tour of her solo exhibition, Interlaced. Behar will discuss her influences and the context and process behind the exhibited works.
REGISTER FOR THE ARTIST-GUIDED TOUR
PAST EVENTS
Amazons, Goddesses and Wonder Women: A Fulbright Journey
On View Nov. 1 – 23, 2022, Kniznick Gallery
Since 2020, Dodson has collaborated with several artists and scholars to translate her wood sculpture series “Amazons Among Us” into a variety of mediums, including poetry and animation. Dodson’s sculptures are inspired by legendary warrior women such as the ancient Amazons of the steppes, the Dahomey of West Africa, and the Rani of Jhansi.
As Dodson’s heroines transform through porous materials of wood, word, and pixels, this interdisciplinary collaboration honors the endurance of ancient storytelling and extends it towards a posthuman future. Earthy, sensuous wooden icons encounter digital avatars of infinitude. A score of poetry written by K. Melchor Hall grounds the environment. Amazons, Goddesses, and Wonder Women examines how historical and futurist feminist mythologies can evoke ancestral connection, a sense of resiliency, and belonging. Audiences are invited to consider their own presence amongst these figures and how they can help craft legacies of social transformation and restorative justice.
This exhibition features wood sculptures by Brandeis University WSRC Resident Scholar Donna Dodson, poems by Brandeis University WSRC Resident Scholar K. Melchor Hall, collaborative animations with Trina Baker, Lesley University Chair of Animation and Eric Keller, professional animator and CG artist, with concept art and 3D models by Lesley University interns Lexy Saunders, Paola Almonte Colon, and Sarah Clifford and posterboards by Brandeis University Student Scholar Partners Pilar Duvivier and Cyrenity Augustin. Alongside this artwork, the exhibition will feature feminist animations from Dodson‘s international colleagues, whom she met during her Fulbright US Scholar Artist Residency at Q21/MQ in Vienna, Austria, with her host, Tricky Women/Tricky Realities, the world’s first and only animation festival for women artists.
Corresponding Events
Opening Reception with a Fulbright Award Panel: November 1, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at the WSRC | Fulbright Award-winning scholars K. Melchor Hall, Djounia Saint-Fleurant, Hoang Duong Thien, and Aishah Winter share their experiences and insight into the application process.
On Feminist Animation: A Virtual Panel Discussion Moderated by Donna Dodson, Fulbright Scholar and Resident Scholar at the WSRC | A virtual panel of feminist animators including Christine A. Banna, Sarah E. Jenkins, Atia Newman (Quadri), Shanti Thakur, and Trina Baker. November 8, 2022, from 12:00 to 1:30 p.m. EST (online).
On Collaboration: A Panel Discussion with Donna Dodson, K. Melchor Hall, Trina Baker, Cyrenity Augustin, Pilar Duvivier, and Paola Almonte Colon | Exhibiting artists speak about the process of working in large teams on collaborative projects. November 15, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at the WSRC.
"I, Too" Documentary Screening
Monday, Oct. 24, 2022, 6 p.m. at the WSRC
Join Brandeis Women's Studies Research Center Resident Scholar K. Melchor Quick Hall who will moderate a screening and discussion of "I, Too," a one-hour documentary film about the life and work of Gittler Prize winner Carol Anderson in a racially divided United States. Laurie Nsiah-Jefferson, Director of the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy at University of Massachusetts, Boston will be in conversation with Professor Anderson during this special event taking place during Anderson's three-day Gittler residency at Brandeis.
WSRC Lectures, Events and Exhibitions take place in-person at the Women's Studies Research Center (WSRC) in the Epstein building of Brandeis University, unless otherwise stated.
The Kniznick Gallery is located in the Women's Studies Research Center. Please check for Open Gallery hours.
This page will reflect any updates regarding WSRC events. Visit the Brandeis University COVID-19 Response website for updates on other campus operations.
"Human Blues: A Novel" Book Reading with author Elisa Albert, Brandeis Alumni
Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022, at 7 p.m.
Author and Brandeis alum Elisa Albert will read from her newest novel, Human Blues, "a provocative and entertaining novel about a woman who desperately wants a child but struggles to accept the use of assisted reproductive technology—a hilarious and ferocious send-up of feminism, fame, art, commerce, and autonomy." Elisa will be interviewed by author Stephen McCauley, her former Brandeis professor and current Co-Director of the Creative Writing Program.
*With co-sponsorship by the Brandeis Alumni Association and the Brandeis Creative Writing Department
Roe and the 2022 Vote
Yasmin Radjy, Executive Director of Swing Left
Heidi Sieck, co-founder and CEO of #VOTEPROCHOICE
Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022 -Virtual Event, 7 p.m.
A discussion between Yasmin Radjy, Executive Director of Swing Left, and Heidi Sieck, Co-Founder and CEO of #VOTEPROCHOICE. Moderated by Professor Jill Greenlee, Brandeis Associate Professor in Politics and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies. The panelists will discuss particular races where the issue of reproductive freedom has great potential to mobilize voters, and other races where it does not. These leaders will also discuss the types of races that their organizations invest in (and what resources they provide) as a way of understanding which offices they see as having an impact on abortion rights moving forward.
*With co-sponsorship by the Vic '63 and Bobbi Samuels '63 Center for Community Partnerships and Civic Transformation (COMPACT)
"Spring Awakening in a Post-Roe World, A Conversation with Writer and Lyricist Steven Sater"
Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022, at 7 p.m.
A live, interactive virtual discussion with Steven Sater, Tony Award, Grammy Award and Laurence Olivier Award-winning American playwright and lyricist best known for the book and lyrics to Spring Awakening, a rock musical criticism of oppressive moral societal attitudes. Moderated by Pascale Florestal, director of the Brandeis fall production of Spring Awakening. "...Spring Awakening has always been a cry from the heart for fundamental human rights. A young girl asks how babies are born, but is met with only lies and deceit — and later dies of a botched backstreet abortion... when we lie to our children, when we condemn as sinful the very words of their bodies, we only lead our communities to tragedy," says Sater. At a time when reproductive rights and women's health are under attack, Spring Awakening is now more relevant than ever. This event will precede Brandeis Theater Arts' November 2022 student production of the show.
Presented by the WSRC with co-sponsorship from Theater Arts and the Gender and Sexuality Center.
"Music Outside the Court: Corpus Christi and Black Villancicos"
Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022, 12:30 p.m.
Presented by WSRC Resident Scholar, Laury Gutierrez, The Corpus Christi has long offered multicultural and multiracial gatherings creating artistic expressions in literature and music. Black Villancicos were polyphonic songs written using a language imitating how African and African descendants spoke.
Ellen Warner | The Second Half: Forty Women Reveal Life After Fifty
Photo credit: Ellen Warner - Portrait of Odette Walling, Resistance Leader, Paris, France
Artist Talk, Book Signing, and Opening Reception with Ellen Warner
Thursday, Sept. 29, from 6 – 8 p.m.
On View, Sept. 30 – Oct. 27, 2022
The WSRC is proud to present The Second Half: Forty Women Reveal Life After Fifty, a solo exhibition in the Kniznick Gallery by American photojournalist, portrait photographer, and author Ellen Warner, co-sponsored by Brandeis University Press.
Over the course of 15 years, Ellen Warner interviewed and photographed women from different cultures about life after age 50 — from an author and translator in Connecticut to a sacred healer in Indonesia, a doctor in Saudi Arabia, a retired cook in Antigua, and the first French woman TV anchor.
The Second Half presents Warner’s analog black and white photographs accompanied by excerpts of the women’s interviews. Intimate and frank, Warner’s portraits reflect the aesthetics, traditions, and landscapes of their subjects’ environments —gnarled apple trees, bookshelves, gilded mirrors, stucco city blocks — and the histories they hold. Spanning decades and cultures, Warner’s portraits and interviews celebrate the wisdom, resiliency, and joy of women in their second half of life.
Collaborating Events
Ellen Warner Artist Talk, Opening Reception and Book Signing - September 29, at 6 p.m. at the WSRC
On Women and Aging: A Panel Discussion with Margaret M. Gullette, WSRC Resident Scholar, Sarah Lamb, Brandeis Barbara Mandel Professor of Humanistic Social Sciences and Professor of Anthropology and Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies at Brandeis, and sculptor Nancy Schön. Moderated by Harleen Singh, Director of the Brandeis Women's Studies Research Center and Senior Associate Provost for Faculty and Global Affairs. October 12, at 5 p.m. at the WSRC
In Conversation: Photojournalist and author Ellen Warner and Judy Norsigian, author and co-founder of Our Bodies, Ourselves. Moderated by Bernadette Brooten Myra and Robert Kraft and Jacob Hiatt Professor Christian Studies, Emerita, Brandeis University. October 27, at 5:30 p.m. at the WSRC.