Adva Drori graduated from the Bezalel Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Jerusalem in 1997, and went on to complete her studies at the Jerusalem School of Visual Theater.  Her performances, which make unabashed use of strong substances and symbols and create new, complex rituals, are often radically disturbing.
Dusza

Performed at the Poland International Art Festival, 2004
Poland

The performance Dusza ("Soul" in Polish) dealt with the Holocaust from a personal point of view. Drori performed in several locations, including at Oscar Schindler's Factory in Krakow, which was also her grandmother's birthplace.

Drori sewed photos of her grandmother’s family and friends who were killed in the Holocaust onto a red carpet on which she performed, and onto a white bridal dress she wore.  In the course of the performance she scorched the Star of David onto slices of toasted white bread, as well as the Hebrew word nefesh, meaning soul. The toasted slices were offered to the audience with pig-fat butter, a popular spread in Poland.  The audience received small dishes with Drori’s blood, and was asked to write on the pictures with bird feathers dipped in this blood.  Polaroid photographs of the audience eating the artist’s toast were immediately added onto the older photographs.


Dusza. Performance, Poland International Art Festival Krakow, Poland, 2004