Paintings | drawings   Tattoo A Tattoo in My Soul

How do symbols affect our identities? Which identities do we choose to adopt and which ones do we reject, challenge or change?                  

The Star of David is an ancient Indian symbol, adopted during the Middle Ages by the Jewish people as their symbol and consequently by the state of Israel as the center of the national flag.  

Tattoo is a series of drawings and paintings of the Star of David which I painted in Israel between 2001 and 2005. Before this, I had been politically active for peace and for the demilitarization of the Israeli society. I then returned to my studio to produce this body of work, believing that political awareness may be altered through art. 

Through painting this particular symbol, I dealt with my various identities - my Israeli identity as a native Israeli, my Jewish and Zionist identities, and my identity as a daughter of Holocaust survivors - the “Second Generation” identity.

Living and exhibiting in the US, during different periods of my life has added another perspective of the Gola (the Diaspora). 

My Stars of David are mostly vague and broken. Childish looking at times, gloomy at others. Painted on a piece of cut canvas that hangs like a home-made flag, or drawn with pencil on paper in an obsessive search for answers not found.  

There is death in my Stars of David. The yellow ones may bring to mind the Holocaust, that Yellow Star. The red stars may suggest flesh and blood, the price of continuous state of violence and wars. 

But there is also life in my stars of David. The Hebrew word Khai, meaning “alive”, is yet another Jewish symbol present in some of the paintings.

I am present in the paintings through my name “Vered” which means “Rose” in Hebrew, and is known as an inter-cultural symbol of love and life. The heart, another common symbol of love/life, reappears in some of the works as well. 

Can these symbols breathe life into my Star of David, this tattoo in my soul? 

Do we choose to die for our symbols or live with them despite the discomfort they may generate for us? And how does one fully live with a symbol? Can we make peace with our inner symbols that might be guiding our lives without our awareness? How do I choose to live with the Star of David? 

The works in this series were created using acrylic, gouache, pastel, oil pastel and graphite on paper, wood and canvas, and their average size is from.8”x.8” to 28”x28”.  

June 2006