From Jooniper Stav:
“I was born in Israel to a manic-depressive mother, who is also a daughter of Holocaust survivors. I lived with her for the 17 years of my life. When I finally decided I had to live my own life, not hers. I moved here this summer with my father, stepmother and five siblings.
‘Had I not fallen, I would not have arisen.
Had I not been subject to darkness, I could not have seen the light’
-Midrash (translated from Hebrew).
“Art is where I just let myself go. I let out everything I feel. It is great therapy because nothing is stopping me and everything I feel or want to say is legitimate. Nothing has to make sense, only to me.
“The works with Vaseline are the ones I made at the time I felt most captivated by my mother’s life and problems. The guilt and anger made me feel like such a horrible person. For the first time, she tried to reach out to me, but I felt it was too late; I was not going to give in this time. This is probably my most angry work. I wanted people to touch my paintings and feel repulsed, reluctant, just like I did. (Acrylic, Vaseline and toilet paper on cardboard, November 1999).
“The dark faces are titled ‘Nameless Faces.’ I created them in September 1999, out of tar and cardboard. At the time I felt I wish I could be someone else, born to a different mother, so I could be a different me.
“The ‘Weary Woman Series’ are etchings in bronze (May 1999). I felt tired, and careless. All I wanted was to sleep so I could live in my own world, by myself.
“The colorful paintings of birds are the ‘Blossoming of my soul.’ I made them when I knew I was moving away. I felt that this was my time to start my journey of being free. With out the burden of my mothers’ life. (Acrylic on cardboard, July 1999)”
