The Absent Blade, 2026

This painted terracotta relief functions as a raw, contemporary archive of paternal complicity and existential dread. The composition centers on a brutal, highly textured surface where a structural fracture splits the central vertical axis. A left hand grips the handle of an absent blade—an invisible yet omnipresent weapon of sacrifice.The work subverts the biblical narrative of Abraham into a personal and national trauma: the reality of an Israeli father sending his children to war. While the physical blade is structurally missing, its violent presence is deeply felt. The face of the patriarch is obscured, hidden behind the gripping fingers, leaving only a chaotic, frantic texture that suggests an unraveling mind. By rendering the tool of sacrifice as a phantom element within the fired clay, the sculpture exposes the agonizing psychological state of an absolute, institutionalized betrayal
Painted terracotta (fired clay with metallic finish)48 x 28 x 5 cm