Am Yisrael Chai

Wax pastels, marker, pencil and acrylic paint over paper and canvas

2023

“Am Yisrael Chai,” or “The Nation of Israel Lives,” is a Hebrew slogan that represents the Jewish people’s survival over thousands of years, despite countless attempts aimed at their destruction. While Jewish peoplehood is the central component of the Nation of Israel, or Am Yisrael,  there have always been cracks and fissures in the boundedness of this group.  Am Yisrael simultaneously exists as a whole entity, the complete sum of its parts, while individually remaining a multitude of faceted pieces.  The constant pressure of sorts between opposite poles in a perpetual tug of war and state of tension: particular and universal, fragile and indestructible, mundane and sacred, and finally, whole and cracking.