Image of the Week: Genesis
© D. Yael Bernhard
This week brings Sukkot, the Jewish holiday that marks the end and new beginning of the yearly cycle of readings from the Hebrew Bible, or Five Books of Moses, or simply, the Torah. Many synagogues unroll the long scroll on this occasion, and read aloud the final passage of Deuteronomy, followed by the first passage of Genesis.
Pictured here is an illustration I did that shows the six days of Creation plus the Sabbath. This is a story that greatly lends itself to visual structure, and after much trial and error (that is, doodles), I settled on this one. Beginning with the formless void of darkness at the bottom, the six overlapping divisions open upward to the image that crowns them all: the holy day that is marked for all eternity as a day of rest: Shabbat, represented by two candles, an open bible, and the sunset that marks the beginning of the Sabbath each week.
The structure shown is that of a braid that is being undone. Out of the underlying Oneness come braided strands that separate from each other, unfolding into diversity. Out of the universal comes the particular. Out of the interwoven come individuals, each a different color. And it all begins with two things: light, and the language that brings the world into being.
My first painting of Genesis followed a different structure, focusing on the fate of man to dominate all living creatures on Earth – for better or worse. How would you structure a myth such as this? Would you place the darkness at the center, or make a mandala of the six days? Would you make a linear progression, or a pyramid with a crown? There's no right or wrong way to envision this timeless tale – or to think of it. I'm still pondering how the world got here and what made me. And I enjoy this sort of challenge, so I'm sure I have at least one more image of Genesis in me. Perhaps I'll make a dichotomy of darkness and light, or a spiraling outward of animals and plants . . . truly, the sky's the limit.
A good week to all –
D Yael Bernhard