This project reflects the experience and impact of the October 7th terrorist attack in Israel in 2023. Hamas brutally murdered over a thousand and kidnapped hundreds of innocent people early Shabbat morning during the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah. Images 1-6 are dyptychs, showing the before when people were joyful and unaware, and the during, when they were terrified. The next two images represent shock, chaos, and numbness. A moment frozen in time while the attack occurred, affecting both adults and children. The second-to-last image reflects what we’ve held onto for strength as so many remained in captivity and grief engulfed our community. The Western Wall in Jerusalem is one of Judaism’s holiest sites, and is a customary place for people to stick notes of prayer in. My final image shows the after, the moment when the war is over and the hostages are home, yet pain and memory still linger. The braided challah and a mother’s embrace surrounded in darkness, embody the way we are bound together as a people, and continue to carry our love, strength, and traditions forward no matter how much the world tries to break us. While people continue to question and misunderstand what happened on that dark day, my work serves as a way to bear witness and remember.

For this project I photographed in Los Angeles and San Diego to recreate these moments in time, but also chose to include an image I took in Israel. A central part of my process was layering and collage work, along with using a slow shutter speed to have a visual metaphor for the chaos and disorientation that we feel when a trauma happens. I also included text messages, news headlines, and rocket alerts from that day to add evidence of the reality without resorting to graphic imagery. Hamas documented their barbaric acts and shared them with celebration and enjoyment. That same footage also acts as undeniable proof of what they did, yet people still take pride in it or deny it ever happened. If anyone doubts it, the videos are easy to find, but watching them risks turning real suffering into spectacle and takes respect and dignity away from the victims. From the Holocaust to October 7th, Jewish pain has been continually documented yet doubted. My work resists that exploitation and asks why belief in victims requires proof of their suffering. But we are not only victims. We are survivors, a people with enduring strength, faith, and tradition and that is why I chose to include Jewish symbols like the mezuzah, Western Wall, and challah, representing the resilience of our community even in the face of devastation.

This work is rooted in my Jewish Israeli heritage and my belief that being seen, believed, and supported is essential to survival. Growing up within a strong Jewish community, I rarely encountered antisemitism until college revealed how deeply it still persists. Art is my form of activism, a way to challenge ignorance and turn pain into understanding. Even from thousands of miles away, the Jewish diaspora feels this weight, and remains ever connected to our homeland. Despite everything, we continue to live unafraid and unapologetically Jewish, and my art stands as both witness and defiance.