DAFNA REHAVIA

The Trap of Dualism, Dress made of menstrual pads, 2016
He Said She Said, Print on fabric, 35 x 35 in, 2020

In the trap of dualism, I present a simple white innocent dress that is made of menstrual pads; just a hint of bodily blood, the biological mechanism for creating new life. The simple innocent dress is hanging on nails, just a hint of struggle to keep up with the inherited role of motherhood trapped between biological perception and cultural expectations.

Dafna Rehavia is a mixed media artist and an art-psychotherapist who immigrated from Tel-Aviv and lives in Pittsburgh. In her artistic journey she has explored existential and identity struggles from personal and sociocultural perspectives. She examines metaphors of the body-self as a site of injury. Her found-art and installations respond to the ways authoritative discourses trap and control the body-self. Relocation to US affected her art practice. Earth and sand emerged in her installations, representing temporariness and transformation. Rehavia merges her art practice with psychological research.