JILL RUBY-WAHBA, LMFT, ATR-BC
Jill Ruby-Wahba is a LMFT, and Board Certified, Registered Art Therapist, with a private practice in Torrance, CA. Her passion is utilizing the process of art making and reflection of art as a modality of therapy to work through deeply rooted issues and help people improve their overall wellbeing.
Why? (The Eye. October 7, 2023)
(Water soluble oil paint, ink pen, colored pencil, and watercolor on paper)
I made this piece in the days following the Hamas attacks on Israel. During that time, I felt helpless, naked. Horrified. Afraid. Angry. Why? As a Jew, I was… well… in a daze. I had an overwhelming need to do something, but all I could do was stare into space in disbelief. History is on the brink of repeating itself, and I still don’t know what to do to stop it. This imagery presented itself to me through the art making process. The power of it haunts me every time I look at it.
It pains me watching people take sides when the real enemy is terrorism, power and control. I am saddened by all the loss endured by everyone during this war, that so many are now homeless or displaced, and hostages have still not been returned home from captivity in Gaza. Even in our supposedly empathetic, understanding, open-minded therapeutic community, Jewish clinicians have been ostracized and rejected from professional groups, lost clients. I wish people could see what I see.
Why? (The Eye. October 7, 2023)
I had to get my hands dirty. What happened on the morning of October 7, 2023 was messy and chaotic and evil. I had to try to understand what happened. I didn’t know what would emerge as I started by dragging black ink on a string across a page. I found the center of the image first, almost made it a completely red blob, a violent, painful core that held so much pain and exploded outward and seeped inside. I imagined fallen soldiers, slain beautiful young people in the prime of their lives, tortured and beaten souls, explosions, blood, fear. Death. Light and colors being blocked and pushed away, or frozen in space. I couldn’t allow myself to succumb to feeling that defeated.
This Eye yearns for peace and joy. It mourns the loss of all who had to suffer on, and since, that fateful morning one year ago. The world has changed since then. This image, to me, is at once a reflection of the past, a warning for the future, and a beacon for hope.