Ita Segev
Issue No. 22 • Spring 2021
Ita Segev is a performance artist, actress, and writer from Jerusalem. She is a trans woman and an anti-Zionist Israeli, both of which she is strong advocates for. In an interview conducted over Zoom, CURA got the chance to get to know Ita. We talked about her relationship with art, her creative process, how she views the way people talk about identity, and how she is no longer willing to prioritize her art over her mental health.
Yu: You are a performance artist, an actress, and a writer. Which of these came first and at what age did you realize you had a passion for these arts?
Ita Segev: I would say writing came first. I knew I really needed to express, and I was obsessed with words. But there was a split between the writing I was doing privately, like diaries and internet chats, and the language I was using in the world with other people that kept me safe.
I grew up in Jerusalem, so I was doing mandatory military service. I got injured and became a military reporter. That’s when I realized my words without my body can turn into lies. It became about a system using words to justify its existence. I would write “occupied territories” and an editor would take away the word “occupied.” It becomes about me normalizing this place that I don’t view as normal.
That was when acting became very attractive to me. I moved to New York and studied acting but this was before I transitioned. There were parts of acting that I really loved but it was very hard because I was boxed into this type that felt very far away from where I actually was. That’s sort of how I found performance art, which was the opportunity to be on stage and perform without performing a rigid gender.
Yu: How has your relationship with acting and performance changed since you have transitioned?
Ita: It changed immensely. I gave up acting for a moment because being typecast gave me a lot of anxiety. Performance became the space where I was trying to figure something out that I didn’t quite understand. So, I was attracted to more abstract performance. The fact that I didn’t need to call things by name, I could just exist in a space that I created, was very comforting. Once I started figuring out my gender stuff, I felt like I could return to narrative this time as me. It was less about self-exploration and more about giving me a framework to invite people to world-build with me.
Yu: Since you moved to New York, how have you grown as an artist and as a person?
Ita: I moved when I was 22. It was the first decision I made on my won. But I was really a kid. I became an adult, I became a woman, a queer person, an artist. I fell in love. I got my heart broken. So many major events in my twenties happened to me in New York so it absolutely shaped who I am.
Yu: A main focus of your work is about educating your followers and the general public about the harms of Zionism. How did you first develop your anti-Zionist identity?
Ita: I grew up in a place where there was a lot of intense brainwashing. Growing up around injustice feels unfair but there weren’t a lot of people around who were full-on challenging the very foundation. There was an invasion of Gaza in 2009. My friends who were sent in came back with fucked up stories, but the Israeli public had a romanticized narrative that we’re fighting to defend our country. There was a gap that didn’t make sense.
My impulse was to be, when I finish the Army, I’m out of here. I had the opportunity to not think about Israel-Palestine for a while. Two or three years after I moved, there was a second attack on Gaza. I was in New York and had a very intense wake-up moment where I realized my leaving doesn’t change the situation. There was a four-to-five-year process of how do I educate myself? I made mistakes and had to learn a lot of things.
I feel like that time was very important. When I observe people now in the US waking up to systemic injustice, sometimes they’re not taking the time before they take on something they don’t know enough about.
Yu: How do you explore your identity as a Jewish trans woman through your art?
Ita: It’s definitely an evolving thing. Pre-pandemic, I was bringing in these contexts that a lot of people didn’t necessarily know about. It felt like my job to put them in the world. I think it’s really important but also to some degree, it’s exhausting. I lived in the US for nine years. I’ve been outside of the US for five months now because of COVID and I’m realizing that oh my God, the way Americans talk about identity is exhausting.
Yu: What do you mean?
Ita: It's like everyone has to be an ambassador for all their contexts at all times. Identity is important, but the constant dissecting of it in these rigid ways sometimes cuts people off from being able to communicate. You can get stuck in a limiting positionally. It’s like this word “representation.” Why are we talking about representing as opposed to being and navigating? I am not representing anything, I am things.
It’s also a way of not letting people desire what they desire. I know a lot of trans people who have really wanted something but wouldn’t give it to themselves because they thought it would make them less radical or real. They wanted things that are “basic,” or “messy” but they felt shame about it. We can’t start policing that life force in us in order to fit into some rubric of who we’re supposed to be.
Yu: What’s your creative process like for a performance?
Ita: When I write and make performance, I really believe in improvisation. There’s something about tapping into a certain kind of flow that’s maybe more subconscious. I want to break apart the rigidity of a form, see what’s actually going on & rebuild from there. For my last performance, I worked with a director who would just watch me improvise. We would then unpack that in a room together until we got to a nugget of an idea.
Yu: How does your creative process differ between when you are in a happier place in your life versus a place where you’re struggling more?
Ita: I absolutely fail at this often, but ideally, I’m trying to strike a balance. It’s taken me a long time to get to a place where I genuinely believe that the art is less important than my life. The art is not my life. My life does not come second to the art.
My relationship to time is another really big thing. I feel like I didn’t used to give myself enough time between when a traumatic thing would happen and when I would to talk about it publicly. The real victory to me, which I’m still very much trying to figure out, is making work that deals with trauma without like re-traumatizing ourselves. That’s like, iconic.
I would love to make stuff that’s rooted in pleasure and joy and whimsical fantasy. Sometimes I can be drawn to the struggle, but I also find a lot of value in joy and rest and humour. Being able to laugh at things that are hard is a big part of my art.
Yu: I love that because it brings forth the question of does queer art have to be tragic?
Ita: I think we don't need it. I had a moment where I was watching this movie in Brooklyn. I walked in and it was a movie starring a trans woman. Twenty moments into the film, there was a really intense scene of the woman getting bashed in the street. I realized this movie wasn’t meant for me. This is for the cis people to wake them up. I definitely don’t need to go to a theatre to see this because I already know it happens.
Yu: Are there any transgender and gender non-conforming artists that you look up to?
Ita: Recently, I try to get more excited about trans peoples art rather than putting the person on a pedestal.
I just finished Detransition Baby, a book by Torrey Peters. I dreamt about the book. I needed to call people to talk about it.
I loved Veneno on HBO. It’s a Spanish show about a sex worker and real life trans icon named Cristina Ortiz.
I’ve been listening to the albums Vivid Images by Sol Patches and Our Hands Against the Dusk by Rachika Nayar, and also revisiting SOPHIE’s music.
Yu: Do you have any advice for young artists that are starting out?
Ita: I would say divest from the American Dream fantasy of one day being found. Focus on the things you have agency over. Focus on your practice; focus on your community; focus on how to make money that isn’t based on a fantasy of getting rich fast. Create a life and a structure where art is a sustainable part of it as opposed to a rollercoaster you’re struggling to hold onto.
Existing under late capitalism is a constant compromise. You might have to find all kinds of ways that are somewhat uncomfortable for you to get your work out there or get paid. That's unfortunate, but it's also life and it's okay, as long as you don’t lie to yourself & your close circle about what it is you're doing. When you start with that self-deception is when your integrity starts getting compromised and shit starts getting weird.
And take your time. Good art often takes a long time to make and that’s okay.
Yu: For CURA Magazine, we are focused on gender revolution. Do you believe there is a gender revolution underway? Why is it important to move past the binary?
Ita: I feel like sometimes the giant revolutionary talk when it comes to gender can get in the way of the actual intimate work of what it means for a person to articulate who they are.
What I would say for trans and gender non-conforming people is that you don’t owe it to anyone for your gender to be revolutionary. Your gender expression can break barriers, but it doesn’t have to. This “revolution” is also softer, more intimate, more tender – a place where young people have a chance to find out who they are. People can stay questioning for a really long time. You don’t owe a destination to anyone.
Yu: What are some of your favourite places in New York City?
Ita: I love to go out dancing. There were all these pop-up underground nightclubs I used to go to a few years back. These lines of parties that jumped between venues. But then in New York, there’s a moment where it becomes scene-y, like literally about being seen. That’s the moment when I usually stop liking it, when it doesn’t feel as free anymore.
Yu: What's your favourite colour?
Ita: Pool blue.
Yu: Okay, favourite food?
Ita: This is hard. Maybe Sabich? It’s this Jewish-Iraqi food that’s a pita, with fried eggplants, hard boiled eggs, thinly chopped salad and a bunch of other yummy stuff.
Yu: Okay, lastly are you working on anything that readers to look out for?
Ita: I just finished some projects that are available online. An audio play that’s available on Audible. It’s called “Chonburi International Hotel and Butterfly Club” by Shakina Nayfack.
Another project is called The Gay Divorcees is a band of real-life queer divorcees led by Ethan Philbrick.