A Pilgrimage
Reminiscing. 16 more days until my next big trip. For me every journey is a spiritual journey. A pilgrimage where I uncover new and old parts of who I really am, a journey where the inner experience is more important than the outside journey.
As I prepare to re-visit Israel after 14 years I spend time reflecting upon my life. I ask questions: Where do I come from? Who was I before, 14 years ago? How has the move to a new continent changed me? What were my identifications? What was important to me then? What is important now? How have I evolved and grown into who I have become?
Asking questions, keeping a journal, writing down my answers are an important part of my life. It is said that a life not reflected upon is a life not lived.
Only if we know where we come from can we understand where we are going.
When I left Israel in 1997 art was a very important part of my life. And now I this passion returns once again, with inspiration and passion and wild colors that I see spinning inside my head, when I close my eyes.
I love when the anticipation of a journey already changes me….
Please enjoy the photographs of the art I created in Israel.
This painting later inspired a poem published in in Voices from the Attic by Carlow University Press:
The Burning
Books silently waited in darkness.
Books of Judaica,
Martin Buber, Kabbalah, the Tree of Life.
Hidden deep in a cellar in the Holy City.
Forgotten, as if they never were.
Saved by a German artist in 1993.
In my search for meaning I burnt these treasures,
again, again and again.
I fail to understand.
My people,
first they burnt books,
then they burnt people.
A slight glimpse into the working of a mad mind.
The power of fire, a country rises from the ashes.
The question to ask. The perished ones, where did they go?
Dismembered remains were glued onto the canvas.
Thick layers of oil paint dried instantly in Israel’s unbearable heat.
No warmth, only frozen layers of ice.
Related Articles:
Timelessness in the Labyrinth – Moments of Beauty in Israel
Girls Don’t Ride Motorbikes Wins Its First Award
Listen to Dorit, as she reads her Israel Poems at the ‘Voices from the Attic’ book release partyat WYEP in Pittsburgh.
Pivotal Moments – What my years in Israel have taught me.