About the artist

JEWESS by Danielle Durchslag will be presented by The Invisible Dog during Spring 2026

Danielle Durchslag designs costumes, inspired by both fashion and Jewish history, that she wears to portray female characters with distinct, oppositional approaches to contemporary Jewish identity. Each of the three personas presented in JEWESS is tethered to a specific Jewish holiday and set of political values. The exhibition includes at least 9 large-scale photographs of Durchslag, posing as each character, alongside 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, but 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, Zionism, and empire. She's a haughty, superior, judgmental, and 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 Jewish identity with a desire to copy and hide within elevated WASP aesthetics. She is fun, glamorous, “non-political,” and purposefully oblivious to the fraught elements present in her set of identities.

More about Danielle Durchslag
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If you want more information about Danielle Durchslag, commission her for a special project, or visit her studio in Brookyn, please email: lucien@theinvisibledog.org