Tamar: etchings

Tamar, the daughter in law of Judah, is the complicated and potentially tragic story of a woman who was oppressed by law and tradition and could easily have remained lonely and barren for the rest of her days. Through her strength of character, bravery and cunning she was able to escape her fate by means of a complex series of actions and overturn her lot in life, even giving birth to twin boys, one of whom was a forefather of King David.

The process Tamar undergoes in order to take on the persona of a prostitute interested me greatly. I could not find any commentaries about this so I created my own commentary. Presumably Tamar remained a virgin and neither of the two brothers to whom she was married had sexual relations with her. I sent her to a brothel to learn about seduction and to receive womanly support from the prostitutes. As I see it, had she not received support from other women she would not have been able to overcome the traumas of widowhood and rejection and enlist the psychological strength to carry out the seduction. Indeed, her success was remarkable. She succeeded in meeting and seducing her father-in-law, an encounter that led to the birth of her twin sons

a series of 8 etchings 30*42 cm, that depict key points in the biblical story, as though a photographer had been there documenting the family scenes of her first wedding to Judah's son Er, her second wedding to his son Onan and so on, 12 collages 38*53 cm and a monumental papier-mâché sculpture. 2015–2017