how dare you?

In hebrew, as it’s noted in the kabbalist book Zohar, the word for I (אני) and nothing (אין) contains the same letters. The book points out this interesting idea, that only the order (of the letters) makes difference between “me” and “nothingness” – in other words we are all nothing compare with the ein sof, the infinity of G-d. Only our mind, imagination and ego arrange the letters in a different order creating I.

I made this print based around this idea. In case you don't read hebrew, on the left side you read Ani - I, and on the right Ein - Nothing.

you: wh

me, briskly removing my shoes and shaking fragments of rubble out of them: One Direction is perhaps the first band to exist entirely within the Panopticon, from the very beginning, and yet even that was not enough for us. Can you imagine how difficult it would become to hold onto a “self” when what people want most from you are the moments of your life that specifically are NOT FOR THEM? It wasn’t just what they DID, we wanted to know what they FELT, constantly. We demanded to know but we did not want to be TOLD. The knowledge could only be “authentic” if it was not meant for us

you: why are you in my house

me, climbing into your bed and pulling your blankets up to my chin: The endless “documentaries,” the social media – we had an unprecedented, and unprecedentedly intimate, degree of access to these people, and still what we valued most were secrets and accidents. What we wanted was their interiority, and when we could not have that we invented it. Wouldn’t you resent having to constantly be GRATEFUL for that grasping, rapacious love? I would

you: are you crying?

“Where Art Thou / Shiviti Adonai” by Liora Ostroff, 5784/2023

Affectionate 19th-century Austrian porcelain ducks, artless daisies and handpainted 'fish' place mats add character to a table set for dinner in the vividly patterned Dining Room.