“Five Names For Soul” is a piece based on the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur. For this high holiday, the word soul appears in Jewish text five times, and the soul is known by five different names: soul, wind, spirit, living one and unique one. I wanted this piece to feel like traditional Jewish folk art; the most popular form of Jewish folk art is white paper cuttings layered over a colorful background, often displayed prominently in a home as a symbol of welcoming. Each name for soul is represented by a panel with objects, many of Jewish symbolic importance over a background color relating to the word it represents.
Soul/נפש - The ritual of Shabbat and how it resets the soul for a week
Wind/רוח - The freedom of nature
Spirit/נשמה - A picnic of items that fuel my spirit
Living One/חי אחד - The seven species of food that appear in the Torah (wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and honey)
Unique One/ייחודי - Things I find unique to contemporary connections to Judaism
All panels are 7x11” bristol papercutting on watercolor painted illustration board.
