I use art to own my identity. Through stills, video art, writing and performance I examine the possibilities and boundaries of expression. My starting point is complicated and full of contradictions: a religious Orthodox widow and a mother of fifteen children searching the art world for answers. I continuously test different limitations and demands. As I try to balance my work with my status within my community and my sense of obligation to the family I question relationships, love, tolerance and social boundaries. At the center of that journey I point the lens at myself as I continue to create new dialogues with love and loss. 

I thought I could bring him back with the date nut squares,
or the smell of the kasha.
I thought I could bring him back when I washed his pajamas.
Maybe when I sat
in his closet.
I thought I could bring him back
with the new doors,
the new towels. Maybe
the new phone number.
I thought I could bring him back
with the pictures, the music.
Perhaps the balloon.
I thought I could bring him back
with the stones, the candles,
the weeds that turned into flowers.
I thought I could bring him back
with laughter, with anger,
with tears,
Or when I went silent.
Surely, I thought,
I could bring him back in my dreams.

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