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Jess Dobkin
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Jess Dobkin
Jess Dobkin is a performance artist, curator, teacher, and activist whose work has been presented internationally in theatres, galleries, art fairs, festivals, museums, and public spaces. She has been described as an "internationally acclaimed queer performance artist" [1], and her interdisciplinary career spans more than 30 years. Her work explores the dynamic relationship between live performance, documentation, and the archive, engaging with sensory experience, embodiment, affect, and collaborative care.
Dobkin earned her BA in Women's Studies and Art from Oberlin College and MFA in Visual Art from Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University During the 1990s in New York, Dobkin was active with WOW Café Theater, ACT-UP, and the Lesbian Avengers, work she later described as foundational to her approach to performance, community organizing, queer activism, and mutual-aid projects.
Early in this period, she received grant awards including the Franklin Furnace Fund for Performance Art and the Astraea Foundation. She performed at NYC downtown venues including WOW Café, Dixon Place, La MaMa, PS122, the Kitchen, and toured her Utopia Roaming performance project in a painted cargo van with artist collaborators to universities and queer community centres throughout the United States.
In a 2025 interview on the podcast Cruising: Queer History and Culture, she discussed her long-standing commitment to queer and feminist organizing, including the genesis of Lesbians for Liberty with Lisa DeBoer, and efforts to increase lesbian visibility and challenge homophobia in the WNBA.
In 2002, Dobkin moved from New York to Toronto, where she has received support from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Toronto Arts Council. Her work has been presented internationally, including in the United Kingdom, Mexico, Brazil, Belgium, Germany, Canada, and across the United States. She has undertaken residencies and collaborative projects with Hemispheric Institute for Performance and Politics at New York University, the Banff Centre (Canada), Fierce Festival in Birmingham (UK), the Theatre Centre (Canada) and others.
Across her career, her work has been noted for provoking both discomfort and awe, approacIn a conversation subjects with care and using humour to facilitate engagement. Her body often serves as material, medium, and testing ground for technologies, prosthetics, and costumes, blurring distinctions between artist and artwork. She has collaborated extensively with D/deaf and disability communities, and is recognized for her organizing and mentorship within queer, feminist, and activist circles. In a conversation about her work, the artist mentioned how her adult child's experience informs a lot of her work.
In Toronto, she organized two independent marches with Alex Tigchelaar —Take Back the Dyke (2010) and StoneWall TO (2011)—created in response to concerns about corporatization and police presence at Toronto Pride. Between 2005 and 2009, she organized a social and support group for single queer mothers, and currently co-facilitates online peer-support spaces focused on perimenopause and menopause. Dobkin continues to produce Dyke Nights in Toronto, which feature DJ sets, performances, readings, and a night market.
Commissioned by the Wellcome Collection, London, UK. For What It's Worth is a museum immersive installation that explores the politics and ethics of human milk sale and exchange in the 21st century. In a review of the exhibition, The Daily Telegraph wrote that it "brings the latest exhibition at London's Wellcome Collection to a triumphant, chaotic and decidedly bling climax." It was also covered in Hyperallergic[, The Grocer, ARTnews, and The Polyphony.
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Jess Dobkin
Jess Dobkin is a performance artist, curator, teacher, and activist whose work has been presented internationally in theatres, galleries, art fairs, festivals, museums, and public spaces. She has been described as an "internationally acclaimed queer performance artist" [1], and her interdisciplinary career spans more than 30 years. Her work explores the dynamic relationship between live performance, documentation, and the archive, engaging with sensory experience, embodiment, affect, and collaborative care.
Dobkin earned her BA in Women's Studies and Art from Oberlin College and MFA in Visual Art from Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University During the 1990s in New York, Dobkin was active with WOW Café Theater, ACT-UP, and the Lesbian Avengers, work she later described as foundational to her approach to performance, community organizing, queer activism, and mutual-aid projects.
Early in this period, she received grant awards including the Franklin Furnace Fund for Performance Art and the Astraea Foundation. She performed at NYC downtown venues including WOW Café, Dixon Place, La MaMa, PS122, the Kitchen, and toured her Utopia Roaming performance project in a painted cargo van with artist collaborators to universities and queer community centres throughout the United States.
In a 2025 interview on the podcast Cruising: Queer History and Culture, she discussed her long-standing commitment to queer and feminist organizing, including the genesis of Lesbians for Liberty with Lisa DeBoer, and efforts to increase lesbian visibility and challenge homophobia in the WNBA.
In 2002, Dobkin moved from New York to Toronto, where she has received support from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Toronto Arts Council. Her work has been presented internationally, including in the United Kingdom, Mexico, Brazil, Belgium, Germany, Canada, and across the United States. She has undertaken residencies and collaborative projects with Hemispheric Institute for Performance and Politics at New York University, the Banff Centre (Canada), Fierce Festival in Birmingham (UK), the Theatre Centre (Canada) and others.
Across her career, her work has been noted for provoking both discomfort and awe, approacIn a conversation subjects with care and using humour to facilitate engagement. Her body often serves as material, medium, and testing ground for technologies, prosthetics, and costumes, blurring distinctions between artist and artwork. She has collaborated extensively with D/deaf and disability communities, and is recognized for her organizing and mentorship within queer, feminist, and activist circles. In a conversation about her work, the artist mentioned how her adult child's experience informs a lot of her work.
In Toronto, she organized two independent marches with Alex Tigchelaar —Take Back the Dyke (2010) and StoneWall TO (2011)—created in response to concerns about corporatization and police presence at Toronto Pride. Between 2005 and 2009, she organized a social and support group for single queer mothers, and currently co-facilitates online peer-support spaces focused on perimenopause and menopause. Dobkin continues to produce Dyke Nights in Toronto, which feature DJ sets, performances, readings, and a night market.
Commissioned by the Wellcome Collection, London, UK. For What It's Worth is a museum immersive installation that explores the politics and ethics of human milk sale and exchange in the 21st century. In a review of the exhibition, The Daily Telegraph wrote that it "brings the latest exhibition at London's Wellcome Collection to a triumphant, chaotic and decidedly bling climax." It was also covered in Hyperallergic[, The Grocer, ARTnews, and The Polyphony.
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