noa danziger

Disfigured/The Skin I Live In (2020)

Leather fabric, wool, yarn, thread, reactive paint, beads.15Wx10H (inches).

Artist’s statement

In my work I focus on people with injuries (often war wounds) that have resulted in facial distortions and brutal or extreme features, which put the victim in isolation, excluded from a society that relies, psychologically, on the aesthetic integrity of one’s facial appearance. Using medical materials such as gauze and bandages, and reshaping the fabrics with solutions, primers, and restitching of layers, I aim to disrupt the aesthetic of the human face. I blur the boundary between figure and ground.

We wear two masks in this life – one that is visible and one that is not. The oscillation of figure/ground can refer to either the physical or the psychological. If the former, a physical decorative mask screens the face, allowing us to take on any persona we desire.  If the latter, we manipulate our facial muscles to construct an endless series of masks to display a preferred representation of ourselves, simultaneously hiding those aspects of ourselves we don’t want seen. But these swift and continuous transitions can feed a growing cognitive dissonance – are we hiding or are we emerging? Is the true self couched in the concealed or the presented? 

Disfigured/The Skin I Live In reflects the internal chaos that arise when the boundaries blur or shift. The resulting distortion can affect our sense of what is considered ugly and what is considered beautiful; or, alternatively, what is desirable and what is unacceptable.

About the Artist

Noa Danziger, a native of Jerusalem, Israel, lives in the Ramat Gan, district of Tel Aviv. She grew up in London, where her mother was born. Growing up in two different worlds imbued her with a fascination for the colors, textures, and fabrics and a thirst to understand both her cultures. She asserts that despite cultural differences, we all share the fact that we are human beings.

Danziger examines the way people present themselves to the world, whether consciously or unconsciously, via worn textile. Her strongest influences come from the worlds of fashion and theater as well as art: she draws inspiration from such giants as Vivienne Westwood and Wassily Kandinsky. 

Ms. Danziger holds a BA in Textile Design from the Shenkar College of Engineering, Design and Art in Ramat Gan, Israel, where she majored in fabric printing, knitting and embroidery.