8 MARCH - 1 APRIL 2023
FRONT GALLERY

ISABELLA HONE-SAUNDERS
RITUAL SLAUGHTERER

‘Ritual slaughterer’ is the direct translation of schochet, a Hebrew word relating to the person who slaughters meat in accordance to Kosher standards. This among many other standards provides the framework for the process of ritualisation. 

My patrilineal family were fundamental in establishing a Jewish community in Adelaide in the late 1850s. After having migrated from England to so-called Australia, my great, great grandfather, Solomon Saunders, was invited to take up multiple positions within the Adelaide Hebrew Congregation; including that of the schochet and cantor as well as his involvement in the foundation of South Australia’s first synagogue.

This research project is focussed on the continuities and discontinuities of ritual across two different subcultures, their malleability and their potential to be adapted to suit marginalised relationships to spirituality. Ideas investigated concern the transformation of spiritual spaces, queer club culture, Jewish migration to Australia and transgressive readings of Judaism.

Through this research, local and international dialogues have been created which connect progressive political ideologies and speak to the immense potential for secular and transgressive rituals to suit and serve people’s relationships to spirituality, broadly speaking.

It is particularly important to highlight that this conversation and research is both; crucially aware of Israel’s ongoing colonial project in Palestine, and attempting to demonstrate that Judaism is not inextricably linked to Israel's Zionist genocidal agenda. 

Photography: Brianna Speight