Installing Tobaron Waxman’s Opshernish has been a multiday affair. The original work was a hair-cutting and shaving performance staged in 2000 over several months. The performance referenced the ritual first haircut for Orthodox boys when they turn three in order to ask how gender constructs identity. The artist saved all the hair from the performance, and has kept it in a crate until this summer, when it was shipped to The Jewish Museum for reinstallation. A conservator prepped the long locks of hair so they would remain stabile over the four month installation at the museum, and the next iteration at CJM in San Francisco. Using documentary photos and videos, Waxman and Annie Varnot carefully reconstructed the pattern and position of the airplane wire suspended from the ceiling from which the hair dangles. The installation will also include examples of the implements used during the performance, as well as a re-edited video and sound documentation. We are still completing the presentation so that it most strongly suggests the affect of ritual without the presence of the body.
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