ANAT BEN-ZVI, PhD (married name, Trarbach)
Art allows me to access a universe of unconscious images and to create landscapes where conflicting narratives co- exist. Like in the psychotherapy room, there is no judgement of those images, but rather an invitation to experiment, play, and explore safely with curiosity. The color palette and the emotional palette are both vast and I love experiencing the emotional and physiological impact of new visual experience. When images form on canvas, they have a life of their own, and there is so much to learn from them. Because I feel the intensity of the impact of the political, cultural, and environmental landscapes on myself and my patients, I am not surprised that the imagery in my art demands I attend to and interact with these domains- it draws me into a dance where I can simultaneously experience myself as oppressive and oppressed, observer and participant, boundaried and boundariless. I come out with a sense of grief for how things are and a longing for how I imagine they could be.
Crisis at Court
(Digital Image created over Original Oil Painting, 10” x 14”)
The landscape depicted causes tension and confusion- it forces us to bypass defenses and feel loss, rejection, wastefulness, yearning. There is contrast between the stylized beauty of a pastoral setting and the spoiling of that idyll- the plastic bags blowing in the wind, fossil fuel emissions, graffiti, and ticker tape at the “bottom line” of the painting tarnish the green pastures of the castle grounds. The child is at the center of this landscape, longing to be picked up by what seem like three indifferent mother figures. The gesture of the child’s open arms is repeated in the open legs of the barbie lying on the floor, also giving the viewer a sense that something has gone awry. The male figures (the king, the father, the police) are all absent from the scene, but their influence is inferred. The banner plastered on the castle walls, “say their names”, is a call for help from inside the castle, compelling the viewer to action.