Helene Aylon
Helène Aylon, 89, feminist artist whose work reflected evolution as a woman and Jew
After marrying at 18, Aylon began taking art classes at Brooklyn College, where one of her professors mentioned her to the artist Mark Rothko.
Jewish Enviro-Artists Have the Whole World in Their Hands
A surprising number of Jewish artists are in the forefront of the climate change movement. Simi Horwitz sits…
How the Macho Male Identifies With Wildlife
Helène Aylon is an activist artist whose work has been shown in MoMA, the Whitney and the Warhol museums. Her memoir, published by the Feminist Press, is called “Whatever Is Contained Must Be Released: My Jewish Orthodox Girlhood, My Life as a Feminist Artist.” Her blog posts are featured on The Arty Semite courtesy of the Jewish Book Council and My Jewish Learning’s Author Blog Series. For more information on the series, please visit:
The Liberation of Helène Aylon
Helene Aylon grew up Orthodox in Brooklyn’s Boro Park, became a rebbetzin and then a feminist artist. A new memoir traces her remarkable journey.
Women's Liberation and Helène Aylon's 'Word of God'
Performance and installation artist Helène Aylon scrutinizes the entrenched, sometimes invisible, belief systems that shape society. Since the 1970s, she has used her work as a tool for poetic dissent and constructive revisionism. Aylon’s early work contributed to the women’s movement, opposing the unrealistic imagery pedaled by magazines like Playboy. In the 1980s, her focus shifted to ecology and nuclear non-proliferation. By 1990, she turned her penetrating gaze to the religious texts that helped to define her female identity.