2019
Found object (container for forging iron parts), duvet filling.
h: 57 cm, w: 60 cm, d: 60 cm
Photography: Meidad Suchowolski
Like other materials, this found object was chosen intuitively, without any purpose attached to it. Only later, in the studio, did the artist notice the number stamped on one side: 18. In Israel, the number is heavy with meaning: it is the numerological equivalent of the word “alive”, and marks the age of conscription. At eighteen, children are handed over to strangers who will temper their souls, and quite possibly lead them into danger and moral dilemmas. Whatever they go through – their parents will no longer be there to protect and guide them.
Umbilicus is a reminder of that second severing of the cord, and of the hard reckoning with the dissolution of the parental shelter.
