Jess Dobkin (born 1970) is a

performance artist Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

based in Toronto, Canada. She is best known for her 2006 work ''The Lactation Station''. She has a B.A. in Women’s Studies from Oberlin College, and an M.F.A. in Performance Art from

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...

. She is a Fellow at the Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...

Career

Dobkin first emerged as a performance artist in 2002. Her work draws on her experience as a lesbian and a mother. Her body often figures prominently in her performances. For example, ''Fee for Service'' (2006), was a performance installation where audience members were invited to sharpen a pencil in Dobkin's vagina. Dobkin is also known as a community organizer and often combines this with her creative work. In May 2015, after a successful crowdfunding campaign, she collaborated with many Toronto artists to create an alternative newsstand in a vacant kiosk at the Chester Subway Station in Toronto for one year. Meant as a "creative exchange" for commuters, the kiosk acted as a space for artists' exhibition and performance, while it still functioned as a newsstand selling newspapers, magazines, and snacks for a "monetary exchange." Dobkin has collaborated with other performance artists, including

Martha Wilson Martha Wilson (born 1947 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American feminist performance artist and the founding director of Franklin Furnace Archive art organization. Over the past four decades she has developed and "created innovative photo ...

, founder of the

Franklin Furnace Archive Franklin Furnace Archive, Inc. is an arts organization-in-residence at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. Since its inception in 1976, Franklin Furnace has been identifying, presenting, archiving, and making avant-garde art available to the ...

. Dobkin was a frequent performer at Montreal's Edgy Women feminist performance festival between the years 2004 and 2010.

Major exhibitions

In 2006, Dobkin exhibited ''The Lactation Station'' in Toronto at the

Ontario College of Art and Design Ontario College of Art & Design University, commonly known as OCAD University or OCAD, is a public art university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's main campus is spread throughout several buildings and facilities within d ...

's Professional Gallery, curated by Paul Couillard of

FADO Fado (; "destiny, fate") is a music genre that can be traced to the 1820s in Lisbon, Portugal, but probably has much earlier origins. Fado historian and scholar Rui Vieira Nery states that "the only reliable information on the history of fado was ...

. In this exhibition, Dobkin invited audience members to sample human breast milk. The exhibition, which was partly funded by the

Canada Council for the Arts The Canada Council for the Arts (french: Conseil des arts du Canada), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It acts as the federal government's principal i ...

, gained widespread attention and prompted Health Canada to issue a national warning against the online sale of human breast milk. It was remounted in 2012 as part of Montreal's OFFTA Festival in co-presentation with Studio 303 at Usine C. In 2009, Dobkin performed "Being Green," a video work in which she sings "Being Green" while dressed as Kermit the Frog and being fisted by another actor dressed as Jim Henson. In 2015, Dobkin created ''How Many Performance Artists Does it Take to Change a Lightbulb (For Martha Wilson)'' and performed it at Enoch Turner Schoolhouse in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

as part of

Images Festival The Images Festival is a yearly event devoted to independent and experimental film, video art, new media and media installation that takes place each spring in Toronto. History The Images festival was founded in 1987, originally conceived as ...

. The work was a response and an ode to one of America’s foremost groundbreaking performance artists,

, offering reflections and humorous observations on the way we see. Dobkin's work was inspired by Martha Wilson’s 2005 video titled ''A History of Performance Art According to Me''. The piece examined the history of performance art by defining its terms and conditions and acknowledging the history and inherent qualities of performance. It had multiple co-presenters, including the University of Toronto,

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

OCAD University Ontario College of Art & Design University, commonly known as OCAD University or OCAD, is a public art university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's main campus is spread throughout several buildings and facilities within d ...

Performance Art Centre, and the

Toronto-Dominion Bank Toronto-Dominion Bank (french: links=no, Banque Toronto-Dominion), doing business as TD Bank Group (french: links=no, Groupe Banque TD), is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. T ...

Works

* ''MONOMYTHS'', 2017 * ''The Magic Hour'', 2016 * ''The Artist-Run Newsstand'', 2015 - 2016 * How Many Performance Artists Does it Take to Change a Light Bulb (For

), 2015 * ''The Performance Art Army'', 2014 * ''Acting/Performing/Audience'', 2014 (co-directed with Shannon Cochrane) * ''Performance Artist for Hire'', 2013 * ''Free Childcare Provided'', 2013 * ''Affirmations for Artists'', 2012 * ''Bleeding at the Ball'', 2011 * ''Everything I've Got'', 2010 * ''Being Green'', 2009 * ''Mirror Ball'', 2008-2009 * ''Clown Car'', 2008 * ''The Lactation Station'', 2006-2012 * ''Fee for Service'', 2006 * ''Emergency Exits'', 2006 * ''Restored'', 2004 * ''Attending,'' 2003-2005 * ''The Two Boobs'', 2003 * ''Composite Body'', 2003 * ''The Mad Chef'', 2000-2003 * ''Six Degrees of Lesbian Nation'', 2003 * ''Magic Trick'', 2003 * ''An Ontario Bride Seeks American Wives'', 2003 * ''Talk to Me'', 2001

Personal life

Dobkin is

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

a lesbian, and a mother.

References

External links

jessdobkin.comJess Dobkin’s Social Mirror Ball – Dykes on Mykes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dobkin, Jess 1970 births Living people Canadian performance artists Women performance artists Canadian women artists Lesbian artists Canadian LGBT artists Oberlin College alumni Rutgers University alumni University of Toronto faculty