The Israeli embassy in New York
In 2022 Joel Amit was commissioned to create a piece for the Israeli consulate in New York. The work, aimed at reflecting Jerusalem and its unique character, depicts the landscape of the city and its walls.
The image of the city and its walls appears from a migrating flock of birds that passes through the city or possibly creating it, and intricate layers of lettering. The text that appears filling the panel is taken from Ecclesiastes or the Book of Kohelet, a wisdom literature that is a part of the Old Testament and is written in numerous languages spoken in Jerusalem today. The passage that is brought in the piece focuses on the idea that everything has its time.
In his words, Joel explains, that though the city of Jerusalem is known for its walls, closure, and barriers were not the elements he wished to concentrate on. Instead, he desired to express the modesty and humility we all need to have in light of the passage of time. Just like the flock of birds, here in one moment and then far away and gone. By using the wise texts from Kohelet book to outline the city and its walls, Joel conveys the message that the city, which passed people, rulers, wars, languages, and religions, will continue to go on, and though we think our time is the most critical in its existence, we are only a note in its long history.
The aesthetic elements of the piece as well as its content attempt to portray a common saying in the jargon of the city, which is “Jerusalem of heavens and Jerusalem of the earth”. A distinctive separation between the physical and tangible place Jerusalem holds in our mundane lives and its spiritual existence, timeless and sublime.
The piece is presented at the Jerusalem Hall at the Israeli consulate in New York and is part of the collection of the Israeli Embassies.