The платок (headscarf), a salient artifact in our childhood homes, has long been a symbol of Eastern European femininity associated with деревня (rural), elder women. In this work we repurpose the platok as a queer, Soviet Jewish marker of visibility and resistance. In Hebrew, a “mitzvah” is a commandment from G-d, a good deed.

Here, we reclaim all that has been called позор/pozor (shame) within both dominant culture and our own families. Casting off homophobia, shame, fear and greed, we adorn ourselves with visions of joyful and creative collective liberation, proclaiming:

Abolition это мицва (is a mitzvah)!

A Free Palestine это мицва! 

Queer это мицва!

Rematriation это мицва!