Shaar HaGai / Bab el Wad

The “Gate of the Ravine” was the site of repeated hard battles during the siege of Jerusalem in 1948. Here, the sole life line bringing food, drinking water and supplies to the Jewish majority in the city was cut, as it winded up the mountains.

This place had a special meaning for me.

On my first visit to Israel, at age 15, I was sought out the burnt, twisted trucks and armored cars, that still littered the roadside. Most inscribed with the date of the attack, and some with the names of the men and women who died in the food convoys. My in-laws first met then, as children, on line for their water ration.

This series was created after a personal, life altering experience. After donating a kidney, I had repeated dreams of flying over Shaar HaGai in one of those improvised armored cars. Flying over the roadblocks and snipers, to bring life.

Shaar Hagai Diptych #4 2015

Gouache over multimedia on koalin coated wood panels. 46 x 122 cm

Shaar_HaGai Left Panel

Shaar HaGai Diptych #4, Left Panel

Shaar HaGai Diptych #4, Right Panel

Shaar HaGai Triptych #5, 2015

gouache over ink on kaolin coated panels, 46 x 183 cm.

Based on my memories of my first journey to Jerusalem. I wished to translate the sensation of traveling up that winding mountain road, in the ravine between the steep hillsides. And of my searching for the burnt out armored cars, from the siege of 1948, hidden by the cypress and pine trees.