Days of Awe/Yom Kippur | Circles Within Circles

I recently completed this new digital collage for the series "Circles Within Circles: Jewish Time Frames" a project done in collaboration with poet Sherri Waas Shunfenthal.

It marks the Jewish practice of humility, repentance, and reflection during the Days of Awe, the period leading up to Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

The components of the piece are: a chasidic fiddler I photographed outside the Old City of Jerusalem in 2014, roses, daisies, and some purple flower (pachysandra?) from my garden, a lotus blossom from the Aquatic Garden in DC, a friends eye (Mimi Xang Ho), eagle’s wings (nesharim in Hebrew), the Star of David I wear around my neck, a day-glo hamsa I adapted/altered, red thread from a beggar/shnorrer in Jerusalem, NASA photographs of the Earth and some galaxies, fire, a rainbow over Hawaii I made some years back, the words “kadosh kadosh kadosh” in Hebrew (tucked in amongst the daisies), waves in North Carolina from decades ago, a seagull I photographed in Istanbul two years ago, and another seascape. The stone background I photographed a couple of years back. I created the rainbow effect on the fiddler's black hat, also.