In my twenties I was accompanied by a vague feeling of suffocation, that I was altogether not a normal woman. The feeling was that I was too direct, too overt, that I didn’t know any manner of rule by which to shove my feelings into a corner and to conform to codes which I hadn’t learned. Two events caused a change in that feeling:

- The book, The Hite Report on Female Sexuality, which was published at the end of the 70’s and described the sexual experiences of 3000 women, was an encompassing and groundbreaking document about women’s sexuality. That study, which challenged reigning assumptions, gave validity to my physical and emotional being, and to that of other women as well.  That was the first milestone that caused me to feel more normal.

- In 1984 I was exposed to the work of Cindy Sherman.  It is hard for me to explain the feeling I had before then, that for me the field of art was an emotional wasteland. The sensation was that all the art that I saw, rich and expressive as it might be, spoke of experiences other than mine, and were not made for me.  Sherman’s work enabled me to breathe.  The simple question finally was being asked, does there exist a concept called “woman”, and if so, what is it?

The feeling that I could breathe stays with me to this day.  With Cindyrella I found myself breathing deeply and having fun in a way that I previously had not known.  The different works pulled me in new and unexpected directions, and I held tightly onto a palette of pink and gold in order to keep them a bit together.  The knowledge that I was working with Adva Drori, an artist who has a wild and reckless side, accentuated the sense of adventure, and the not knowing how the works of us two would “jibe” together made the journey both riveting and surprising.
I think that the space that has been opened up is connected to the spirit of Cindy Sherman, which accompanies us from afar.  And the journey continues…


Nomi Tannhauser, December 2015