This body of work deals with subjects of loss, grief,   hope and renewal. It
relates to times in our lives when great forces seem to determine our fate, sometimes hazardously. This is the situation in both my country, Israel, and in Japan. Israel – where an ongoing war conflict keeps threatening the region, and Japan – a country that suffered the traumas of war and of a devastating tsunami, and is now still recovering from both.

Many of the sculptures in the show are of small children. The child is a symbol of hidden wishes, innocence and renewal. At the same time, there is an apprehension that what is now most vulnerable may later become part of the front-line of a conflict. This awareness to the beauty and fragility of life is very prominent in Japanese culture (as exemplified by one of its famous symbols – the cherry blossom).

In addition to children, pregnancy is also a recurring theme in my pieces. It signifies transformation and change, it is both the creation of a new life and the fundamental change of another. I found inspiration in mythology and symbols from different cultures, mostly involving female characters. One of them was the story of Izanami-no-Mikoto, a Japanese goddess of both creation and death, and the creator of the first land together with her husband. It touches upon themes of fertility, death, land and chance which I explore in my work.

Gallery