I am fascinated with human desire to belong, to be a part of a community and identify with a group of other people. Connectedness therefore is the key issue in my practice, in its factual meaning and as an abstract structure. In my work, I try to eliminate the barriers between the group and the singular while acknowledging individuality, and thus making a proposition of an ideal coexistence. To encourage this connection I use wide range of methods such as personal sharing and staging in specific spheres and locations. “The Book of Happiness and Sadness” is a video based on one of my drawing diaries and my participation in Ayahuaska* ceremony. While leafing through pages of abstract drawings, I recite my psychedelic group experience. The narrative and the patterns in the drawings mimic human interdependency and the significance of belonging to a group versus individualism. During the last year I have been working on the drawing diary: The Book of Happiness and Sadness. This book has almost become my daily routine; I was filling pages with circles, patterns and lines. This meditative method is something that I often practice in my work. It is quite an intuitive approach that allows me to think while drawing. The other important part of “The Book of Happiness and Sadness” is the text I am reading in the video. In this story I tell about the sacred ceremony I participated in, - at a small pomegranates farm in Israel. Some important questions of a womanhood, such as self-realisation, relationships with others, and human interdependency in general, are raised in this monologue. Through a very personal story, I share my experience of a self-healing ritual and its use in contemporary globalised society, a ritual that takes its origin in an ancient culture and brought here by means of colonising. *Ayahuasca is an entheogenic brew made out of Banisteriopsis caapi vine and other ingredients. The brew is used as traditional spiritual medicine in ceremonies among the Indigenous peoples of the Amazon basin.
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