The Princeton University Art Museum has opened a new exhibition in its Art@Bainbridge location with support from the Program in Judaic Studies: Helène Aylon: Undercurrent brings together twenty works from Aylon’s fifty-year career to emphasize the strong undercurrent of receptivity and resilience that unifies her oeuvre. Using a wide range of media and techniques, including painting, performance, and film, Aylon (1931–2020) envisioned her practice as a form of exploration, emphasizing discovery rather than completion. She aligned this experimental approach with her feminism, often collaborating with other women on projects that drew attention to the female body, environmental fragility, and gender inequities in religious texts and practices. This exhibition encapsulates Aylon’s efforts to demonstrate that openness to the contingencies of the body, the earth, and spirituality can facilitate understanding, and even healing.

Helène Aylon: Undercurrent will be accompanied by a series of collaborative programs designed to engage diverse audiences on campus and in the regional community, including a faculty panel on Thursday, November 21, in which guest curator Rachel Federman will be joined by Katherine Bussard (Peter C. Bunnell Curator of Photography) as well as JDS executive committee member Esther Schor (John J. F. Sherrerd ’52 University Professor and Professor of English) and associated faculty Stacy Wolf (professor of theater in the Lewis Center for the Arts and American Studies) for a discussion of the exhibition. The panel will consider various aspects of Aylon’s career as a feminist artist and ecological activist, including her approach to making art, her Jewish upbringing, reconciliation, and liberation.

Additional support for Helène Aylon: Undercurrent is provided by Princeton University’s Center for Culture, Society and Religion; Office of Religious Life; Program in Gender and Sexuality Studies; and Department of Religion.

Explore the exhibition and related events on the Art Museum's website.