This blog (by Zeev Barkan) is dedicated to the Star of David, its history, its various meanings and usages in different cultures. It includes thousands of pictures of Star of David, six-pointed stars, hexagrams, Solomon's Seals, Magen Davids and yellow badges,and served as a resource for three books and four art exhibitions.
Photo is courtesy of intuitive painter Rachel Ben Hur. The painting is titled “Shema Israel” [Hear O Israel, in Hebrew] which is the name of perhaps the most famous of all Jewish prayers:Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One
Rachel Ben Hur learned Kaballah and Kaballah-healing. "Ana Bechoach" is a Jewish prayer for healing. Rachel learned painting in Bezalel 40 years ago and started painting again only 3 years ago. In this painting she thanks the Lord for giving her the ability to create art.
Photo of a yellow Star of David on the palm of a Jewish holocuast prisoner is courtesy of artist "Silvisrivers" from Flickr who wrote to me:This image in fact is part of the “Wire King” series I am working on to describe to weaving emotional and existential thematic of human history that singles out peoples for terrible treatment … Its a poetic image both about “camps”, holocaust feelings, destruction and pain - but its also a “Voice” coming back out of the flames and destructions of spirit…Silvisrivers has many works on Flickr and some of them have a Star of David. Silvisrivers is unique in combining poetry with visual art. When his visitors comment to his painting he usually answers them by writing a new poetry. For example, the above work is accompanied bt the following poem [excerpts]:
He spoke a million coloured prismsOne of his visitors, Jessie Doncaster, commented:
Behind the usual bars
Of chemical prisons…
He talked of ovens
And how children were logs
From birth
I feel like you carry the weight of the world, silvis,,,Silvisrivers answered, later:
Put on your lead coatAnd later:
And steel shoes
How can the artist
Ever talk the weight of earth
Without sliding the blue
Stetson Everest over
His own head of human bruise ....
What if the traumtised and those driven half mad by events in the SHOAH had been completely tranquillised after the events of the 2nd world war . Equally why do we tranqulise atrocities rather than hold them up for remembrance . Like a national child abuse day or a memorial to all the child abused - perhaps holding the hand the figure of the "all-abused"
Perhaps the ghost hands of the holocaust jews
Perhaps the arabs too
Perhaps the all raped
Perhaps the cornered who are bombs
Sivisrivers wages his artist's and poet's battle against artifice, cynicism, alienation, and detachment with the weapons of words and images, not to divide and conquer, but to humanely invite his audience to forge connections- not only to others, but to their inner-most selves as well.Copyrights:Silvisrivers 2007
The Mental Health Arts Group I set up in North Birmingham UK is also where I and some of my colleagues practice - this-and-that-arts - sort of multi media and mixtures of getting the messages out about the human condition. We have done a film. Its about remembrance and the power of narrative building - to encourage people to bring stories back from very very difficult social contexts... An inspiration for me was Eric Freid (German Jewish poet who died in the 1980's in London - he took a small glass tube to Auschwitz and scooped up some of the "sands" there - It was not usual sand - it had bits of bones in it , remains of people .... Eric Freid - liked to repair things - rescuing things out of skips in London - like three legged chairs ...He'd make the other leg… Oh I understand that so easily …When you lose a lot family…You want so much to repair the world ... Bless him ...... Silvis Rivers
