When I was watching myself through the video I filmed while sewing the 384 sand bags, it felt very boring. Again and again the same routine of actions which I followed in order to hand sew them. Each of them got special attention as if it was the only one I was making, as if it was my ‘own child’.

Boring is a very tricky emotional state, you might seem to loose any interest in what you are doing, but the truth is just the opposite. You are so overwhelmed that in order to manage your feelings you look as if you are about to fall asleep. So convenient, so deceptive. As a defense mechanism it works well, for a while at list.

Summer of 2006 was horrible for me personally. As  if all the ‘radioactive materials’  I accumulated through the years living and working in this part of the world, burst out and into this work.

Defending our children is an outmost wish of any parent.  The challenge to accept the fact that it is not in our hands, is very difficult. So I decided to build an army post, well known around in our landscape, made of sand bags which I choose to tie with colorful ribbons that we usually rap around birthday presents.

Life has its own ways of showing its truth. In the Local jargon I later found out that this army post is  named:”Shfania”, which means: the rabbits habitat.

Giving it the name “Shfania” (in the army jargon) was as evident for me to as much fear and insecurity both the one inside and the one outside might experience. Fear is not something easily discussed among young men in the army, or elsewhere.

Later on I visited army posts scattered along the northern border of Israel in order to take pictures of the real ones, where famous battles took place. I was amazed to discover the way these bunkers are physically planned, as if they are meant to function as a ‘womb’, protecting the lives of their inhabitants from the danger waiting for them on the outside.

Living like we do under constant threat, and often outburst of violent conflict, how can one keep attached to all the emotions, the fears that go along with these experiences? Yet, can we afford the boredom as a defense mechanism?!

So I decided to take the risk of making the spectator of my work feel bored while watching me sewing the sand bags, just for the chance that my work might intrigue questions, doubts. Keeping them might raise hope for a better future.

Amen.