The first thought that came into my mind when Neomi Weinstein, the curator, came up with the idea for this exhibition, was the zodiac wheel of Beit-Alfa.

When I continued my research on the project, it became clear to me that it has to do with the story of my life. When I was 4 years old, I lost my father in the ’67 war when he was 27. At that age I was not able to understand the loss and I never did grieve over him. Only through art, at the age of 46, did I start to deal with his death.

Helios, the God of the Sun, is a patriarchal God in Greek mythology. He is the main figure that appears at the center of the Beit-Alfa zodiac. His job is to watch everyone down on earth. I chose to replace Helios with a portrait of my father, taken from an old picture in black and white.

The portrait is made using the technique of reverse mosaic in order to give it a flat look, as it is just a remote memory, a photograph. I added my Gemini birth sign, together with some decorative reference from the original mosaic. The portrait is surrounded by the moon and stars, as in heaven, and the background is laid in an outward motion from the head to give it an iconic feeling. I left part of the lime bed (background) exposed because I have always been interested in the glues and bonding material used in ancient times. The formula for the lime bed was kindly given to me by the Israel Antiques Authority, and it represents a link between the past and the present.

As I was looking for the right picture of my father, I found an old stamp-book that belonged to my father as a child. I randomly opened the book, and right in front of me on the page was a big, square stamp of the Beit-Alfa Zodiac mosaic and on the top of the page, in a childish handwriting he wrote “The precious stamp” in green ink. This is when everything came together to become one project: “The precious stamp” mosaic.