Tfila
“Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen”
Leonardo da Vinci
‘Tfila’ (Prayer in Hebrew) is a series of interactive paintings and an Audio-Visual installation. I have created my own conductive paint, that I utilize to detect electric charge from a viewer’s hand and translate it into specific music I have pre-composed. I use the paint as a proximity sensor and overlay it with oil paint. In order to map out different areas of the painting to music, I have utilized an Arduino Leonardo board.
In simple terms - when an observer reaches out towards the paintings, the paintings emit sound/music.
I lost four friends in the tragic October 7th massacre that took place in my country. I had no words for my grief and loss of my friends and a non-verbal prayer became a necessity for me. In this project, I wanted to explore the concept of prayer. One that is not verbal, but one that you can almost touch. A prayer directed at a vague, somewhat familiar, but abstract being. A wish for sound and music. I wanted to explore this prayer as an opportunity for people to interact with my paintings and play the role of both an audience and a composer. Without a touch - but with full intention.
After creating my paintings, I wanted to sample the digital codes of the painting’s colors, and try and emulate them digitally with an ever-living display of brushstrokes. I wanted to create a bigger display for my version of a much-needed prayer.