Leni DOTHAN’s reconstructions of biblical and mythological fables push viewers to consider how such tales may have served to inhibit women and render woman as a narrative devise in the service of men. Dothan places her faithful reworkings of fabled images alongside her constructions, which offer another view of the same tale from a woman’s perspective. Archetypes and stereotypical depictions of women are here undermined. In Sleeping Madonna (2011), Dothan quotes photographically from the endless depictions of a selfless mother sacrificing for her child, in this case, her sleep. In Mine (2012), a video of a mother disturbed in her sleep by child, she frolics playfully, but evocatively in the night showing both threat, frustration and maternal instincts.
Dothan has had a solo exhibition ‘Florentinit’ (2012) at the Ha'Hanut Gallery in Tel-Aviv, Israel. Her group exhibitions include ‘Today Only’ (2010) at The Center for Contemporary Art also in Tel-Aviv, and a two-part exhibition at the Jewish Museum in London titled ‘Love’ and ‘Sacrifice’ in 2015.