Tefillin (Triptych)

Laurence’s Tefillin questions both western art and patriarchal aspects of Judaism. The triptych portrays parts of women’s naked bodies, bound in the leather straps of tefillin, the small black leather boxes with leather straps containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with biblical verses, which are traditionally worn by Jewish men during weekday morning prayers. The nakedness and facelessness of the women evoke the voyeurism of the long tradition of female nudes in the history of art, while the leather straps of the tefillin evoke contemporary “bondage” pornography, while also questioning the exclusion of women from Jewish rituals traditionally practiced only by men.