Resident Artist: Pious Widow, Exotic Dancer, Murderous Whore: The Photo Art of Anya Roz

Abstract

The Russian-born, New York-based artist photographer Anya Roz speaks about her childhood in the “aggressively atheist Soviet state, where religious literature was long equated to opium (oh, these ever-present quotes from the undead resident of the red mausoleum) and where biblical literature was a dangerous thing to own.” In that environment, she found that “the best place for learning the Torah stories was, strangely enough, the very secular classical art museums, condoned by the state under the banner of ‘culture.’ ” For Roz, the narratives contained in paintings by Rembrandt, Velasquez, El Greco, and Michelangelo were “strange, exhilarating and demanded an explanation.” She noticed that they were important enough to be retold by the great masters again and again over the centuries, while styles replaced one another and cultures were transformed. Among the stories that most impressed her were: