Artis presented a converstion between Curator of Ludlow 38 Avi Feldman and law professor Yofi Tirosh titled “Women in the Public Sphere: Contemporary Visual Culture, Religion, and the Law in Israel.”

The dynamics between artistic practice, civil rights, and legal systems have taken various forms, from direct artistic engagement with political crises to struggles for freedom of speech and copyright issues. Cultural production often stands at odds with laws and legislature that straddle religious sensitivities and freedom of speech. In contemporary Israel, representations of women are at the center of a legal battleground over community rights, equality, and dignity. Feldman and Tirosh focused on the ways in which visual images function in the contested terrains of religion and gender equality in Israel, and how we might situate Israeli case studies in a larger international context.