תולדות  | Tol’dot

Terry Braunstein, USA        

“God said to her [Rebecca]: Two people are in your belly; two nations shall branch off from each other [as they emerge] from your womb. One people shall prevail over the other” (Genesis 25:23). This would manifest throughout the lives of Jacob and Esau as competition, strife, and deceit.

As the centerpiece for this work, I chose the surreal architectural structure from an early alchemical manuscript. It illustrates the journey of the soul and the labyrinthine path from the material realm to the Divine, which Jacob and Esau struggled to move toward for their entire lives. At the center of this labyrinth is an image of the Tree of Life, where all comes together as one unified whole.

Professional Background  Terry Braunstein is a multi-media photomontage artist, whose work has taken the form of artist books, video, photography, installation, sculpture, and public art. Her work is in the collections of many museums, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the National Museum of American Art, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Library of Congress, and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.