Roots Of Heaven. Bourbonne Les Bain Residency. 2019.

Northeast France, a tiny gem of a town, underground bubbling baths rich with healing waters. The water flows from the corner of every street and path, probably underneath the houses too, and bring with it ancient memories related to the eternal transparent fluid, and myths, goddesses and ideas that have been here since forever and overwhelm the memory while you’re busy with everyday activities. Rivers, springs, streams, and brooks rush side by side, meeting and separating again and again beneath the azure sky, flying with the mid-August wind, rinsing thoughts and feelings until they become clear, purging like fragrant white laundry before Saturday. Something about growth and change and the right forces and the far and near days that come closer to each other down here.  I came for a one month residency and was drawing little lonely people on old library cards in Hebrew and French, playing with the idea of a cross-cultural encounter. The miniature platform bears the names of writers and books and people who borrowed the books to read. The library book they took home was with them, wherever they lived, wherever they dreamed and fantasized about worlds and stories within the text. To this great little literary space, I add images, portraits of people with constant presence in my life, images of new recent people as well as those who appeared before my eyes for just a moment, here and now in and around this small town. Further in the process, I gather the images into groups on large formats, in order to establish other literary pictorial spaces, attempting with all my might, regardless and despite everything, to connect roots to heaven.