ZipporahI, Malak Mansour, was born in the most beautiful place in the world—a land my ancestors chose to settle, where my father and brothers were given the right to defend and die for it, but never to own the home they built or the land they cultivated.
I, Bella Eldar, was born in a country that ceased to exist when I turned 18. I grew up in a city my grandparents were forbidden to live in, and arrived in a country they once dreamed of, but which did not exist when they were born.
We work together as the duo “Zipporah.” Our meeting happened by chance, and to our surprise, we discovered that we share a language—the language of art. Our collaborative practice enriches us both, opening new directions for research and creative action.
EcclesiastesIn our "Ecclesiastes" project, we chose clay for its fragility and strength, embodying our core idea. Clay allows us to work on both sides of the surface: to build upwards and inwards, as well as to draw. In the process, we discovered that when you pursue a concept to its very edge, paradoxically, opposites begin to merge until the boundary itself dissolves.
We used oxides to give our graphics a daguerreotype-like quality and created seven works corresponding to the seven sayings of Ecclesiastes — aspiring, in time, to complete all fourteen.
Most works have relief and graphics on both sides.
The piece representing “a time for war and a time for peace” takes the form of a bell or tunnel, with imagery inside and out — expressing how, even within war, the seeds of peace are hidden, invisible from the outside.
Today, as we work in a divided and fractured world, representing two very different worlds, the significance of sharing a creative language only grows more urgent for us.
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die;
A time to love, and a time to hate
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;