MY TAPESTRIES: 36 SERIES > Torah and Beyond (I-?) > Torah and Beyond (III)
TORAH AND BEYOND (III)
– Don’ts and Do’s in Crimson and Blue
The 613 commandments derived from the Torah give instructions for how to live our lives as individuals and as an organized community. I chose to make these tapestries colorful and lively, celebrating the idea that a regulated foundation – a constitution – is necessary for a society to exist and thrive.
God, as an imagined shape, appears only in the first tapestry. In the eight tapestries to follow, we glimpse God through God’s mitzvot. I wove people in a crimson color in the four tapestries that refer to negative commandments, and I wove them in purple-blue in the four last tapestries, which refer to positive commandments.
Both colors are mentioned in the Torah and commanded to be used in decorating the Tabernacle. This specific blue, t’khelet, gained importance in the Jewish tradition, but it is no longer used since it takes a mountain of a special mussel which lives only in a special place in the Mediterranean Sea to produce just a few ounces. The exact nuance of blue is not certain – I have imagined one that is a good match for crimson.
- 9 single tapestries; subseries completed.
- Click on images for more information.
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