My golem protests
performance art as political protest
2019-2021
My Golem at Geo Group ICE Detention Center Protest on May 5, 2020, Adelanto, CA (photo credit Molly Tierney)
My Golem at Geo Group Headquarters, Purim Protest on March 6, 2020, Los Angeles, CA (photo credit Emily Altshul)
In 2019, Weitz began performing My Golem in largely in non-art contexts. That year, she was invited by fellow activists collaborating with multiple immigrant rights organizations, to perform My Golem at related protests across Southern California, including at the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in Adelanto, and the Los Angeles headquarters of the private prison company GeoGroup which runs that ICE facility. These protest-performances used political theater to draw attention to the by-now notorious abuses of the first Trump-era.
My Golem at Amazon Protest on November 25, 2019, Westfield Mall, Los Angeles, CA (photo credit Derek Corns)
My Golem at Amazon Protest on November 25, 2019, Westfield Mall, Los Angeles, CA (photo credit Derek Corns)
Julie Weitz, My Golem Melts Ice, Instagram video, 2020
Weitz interrogates the active role that Jewishness and Jews can play in practices of social justice. Her interventions summon her fellow Jews to join the fight to undo the patriarchal structures of oppression that enable the multiple ways in which white supremacy manifests— from race and nationality-based violence to environmental damage.
My Golem at the Dayenu rally for Climate Justice outside of Senator Feinstein’s Office in Los Angeles, August 26, 2021 (photo credit Sarah Velez).