Calligraphy

I was born in Japan in the city of Kobe to parents of Polish origin. I was born through grace, kindness and courage that arose in a dark and terrible time. 

Chiune Stempo Sugihara, Righteous Among the Nations, the Japanese Ambassador to Lithuania, granted my parents a visa to Japan, as a result of which they managed to escape from Poland at the beginning of the Second World War.

Their escape journey spanned the entire world (through Russia, Siberia, China, India, the Red Sea and Israel) and I was born in the middle of it, in Japan. A moment of love and joy that succeeded in uplifting my parents on their difficult journey. I arrived in Israel at the age of one.

The stories of that short stay in Japan became engraved in my heart. Over the years, I found myself looking into its unique culture, values and art. It was only natural that I began to study Japanese calligraphy, to incorporate it into my art, thereby creating an Israeli-Japanese connection, both personal and contemporary, which was integrated with ancient art.

I began experimenting with calligraphy in Tirza Paytan Sela’s workshop following my first visit to Japan in 2004. There is nothing more wonderful than taking a large paintbrush, dipping it into black ink and spreading it over the paper. I have to concentrate in writing. There are no corrections and it can only be written once. It is here that I learnt how the line is a world unto itself. Vibrating, straight, thick, thin, wet or dry.

I train myself to give equal weight to the subject and the void around it which is so important in Japanese culture.