Rebecca Dayan to Another Magazine on religion, freedom and the word ‘virgin’

A beautiful write up by Another Magazine about Rebecca Dayan’s solo exhibition.

I the article Dayan talks about how the inspiration for the show came to her while researching for a new role in a film she is casted for.

“The director wanted the actors to help build the parts, so she sent me all of these books about religious symbolism and iconography that I became incredibly interested in. There was an excerpt in one book that I loved, where a woman explained the original definition of the word virgin. (…) “She also explained that the word virgin originally had no sexual connotations; instead, it was to do with a woman’s freedom and independence and knowledge of herself. I thought that my show could be an exploration of that idea; I am surrounded by so many inspiring women and I asked some of them to pose in positions ordinarily associated with the Virgin Mary, in a play on expectation. The show itself is called Assumption and it’s both about the Assumption of the Virgin Mary but also the assumptions that we make regarding virginity. Through the show, I’m re-appropriating the word itself… taking it back to its original meaning.”

Read the whole article here:

http://www.anothermag.com/art-photography/7756/the-art-of-virgins-and-sacred-goddesses