"Self- Portrait" – A Study of the 'Self':

Anglia Ruskin University 

"Self- Portrait" 

– A Study of the 'Self': 

A Quest for the Creation and the Development of the 

'Self' through a 'Chain of Observations' 

Nurith Cederboum 

A Dissertation in Partial Fulfillment of the 

Requirements of Anglia Ruskin University 

for the Degree of 

Doctor of Philosophy 

Submitted: February 2009

Table of Contents 

Acknowledgments I 

List A - Diagrams and Tables II 

List B – Illustrations III 

List C - Figures of Findings IV 

Abstract V 

Prologue VI 

Part I: Introductory: The 'Self' and the 'Study' 1 - 90 

Chapter 1: The Artist / Researcher Declaration 

1.1 Art, Research and the Investigation of the 'Self' 

1.2 Painting a 'Self-Portrait'- Phenomenon- Human Behaviour 

1.3 Why a Painting of a Self Portrait – Why I 

1.4 Art- Based Research 

1.5 The Hermeneutic Circle – Self Development 

Chapter 2: Meta-Introduction 

2.1 Introduction 

2.2 Artist and Mirror – an Encounter 

2.3 Artistic Activity - Investigation and Interpretation. 

2.4 A Transitional Object: Explorative Visual Text and Multiplication of Faces 

2.5 Creation and Investigation 

Chapter 3: Designing the Research 

3.1 The Voice of the Researcher 

3.2 Subject and Character of the Research 

3.3 Research Disciplines 

3.4 The Research Participants 

3.5 The Research Question 

3.6 The Contribution to Knowledge 

1-19 

20 - 29 

30 - 44

Chapter 4: The Language of Art 

4.1 Origins 

4.2 Form 

4.3 Interpretation, Therapy and Autobiography 

Chapter 5: Methodology 

5.1 How the Research Study Developed out of the Field Work 

5.2. The Research Theories that Contributed to this Study 

5.3 Data Collection 

5.4 Data Analysis 

5.5 Truth, Validity and Reliability in Qualitative Research 

5.6 Ethical Issues 

Part II: The Inquiry: 

The Portrait and the Artistic Means 

Introduction to the Inquiry 

Part II(a): Style and Genre 

45 - 58 

59 - 88 

89 - 245 

89 - 95 

Chapter 6: The Visual Object – the 'Book Object' 96 - 125 

6.1 Super-Finding: The ' Book Object ' 

6.2 The Artist's Act of Choice 

6.3 Para-Textual Affinity 

6.4 Intra-Textual Affinity 

6.5 Extra-Textual Affinity – Conversing Works of Art 

Chapter 7: Image and Writing 

7.1 Image and Writing– an Intra-textual Analysis 

7.2 Image and Writing in Art 

7.3 Images Combined with Original, Printed Text 

7.4 Images Combined with Printed and Handwritten Text 

7.5 Images with Handwritten Text only 

7.6 Images with Text Pasted on 

126 - 154

Part II(b): Visual values 

Chapter 8: Colour 

8.1 Black and White 

8.2 Black and White and a Trace of Colour 

8.3 Chromatic Variation 

8.4 Dominant Colour – Blue 

8.5 Dominant colour – Red 

8.6 Dominant Colour – Yellow 

8.7 Contrast and Complementarity 

Chapter 9: Techniques and Material 

9.1 Drawing in Charcoal and Pencil 

9.2 Dialogue between Line and Patch of Colour 

9.3 Repeating Patterns 

9.4 Aquarelle 

9.5 Mixed Techniques and Combinations of Materials 

Chapter 10: Structure and Organisation 

10.1 Dismantling and Re-assembling 

Summary to the inquiry 

Part III: Discussion: 

'Ego' Designing Portrait as Myth 

Chapter 11: Discussion 

11.1 Split - 1: Unification and Separation 

11.2 Split - 2: Subject and Object 

11.3 Split - 3: 'Ego' and 'Self' 

11.4 Destiny Versus Ownership 

11.5 The Encounter with Pain 

11.6 A Face-to-Face Encounter 

11.7 Ego Designs a Portrait-Myth 

155 - 199 

200 -226 

227 - 240 

241 - 243 

244 - 270

Chapter 12: Summary and conclusions 

Chapter 13: Implementation and Validation of the Study 

The 'Designing Ego': 

A Workshop for the Creation of the Portrait of the Self 

13.1 The Research – Hypotheses, Designing the Investigation & conclusions 

13.2 Implementation and Validation of the Research 

13.3 Additional Applications 

Epilogue 

References 

Appendices 

List D - Table of Appendices content 

Appendix 1 

Appendix 2 

Appendix 3 

Appendix 4 

Appendix 5 

Appendix 6 

Glossary 

271 - 274 

275 - 291 

1 - 4 

1 - 26 

1 – 126 

1- 4 





127 - 129 

1 -3

Acknowledgements 

To my first art teacher, the artist Doron Bar-Adon ― who showed me that I know how to and can paint, 

and especially for discovering my love for painting of self-portraits. To Dr. Eli Avrahami ― who 

accompanied me on a fascinating psychodrama journey in order to "extract the story" from the painting. 

This became a journey into the soul, combining an unique reading expedition with the paintings, and 

became a pool of materials for the interpretative process. To Dr. Esther Azulay, my childhood friend ― 

who opened up a whole world for me. She brought the scents of intertextual analysis and interpretation 

to our renewed acquaintance, as well as her captivating book, 'Creating from creation' that eventually 

was one of the cornerstones of my analysis method. To Dr. Barak Ayalon ― who enlightened me, 

advised, assisted and directed me when I got lost in the ocean of words, knowledge and insights. To Dr. 

Sarah Rumney-Araten ― who became my full partner through her superb translation work, toiling at it 

for hours and making interesting and pointed comments way beyond technical translation. To Mrs. 

Yona Shahar Levy ― who suggested a riveting and unique plan for analysing paintings, gave me and 

my paintings much attention and showed me the paradigm she had developed. Even though I have not 

made use of this method in my present research, I learned a lot and will certainly benefit from this tool in 

future research. To a group of colleagues, researchers in art-based research from the Israel Centre for 

Qualitative Research at the University of Be'er Sheva ― the informative meetings, the support, 

encouragement and interest they showed in my research, inspired me. Their spirit accompanied me 

throughout. To my tutor, Dr. Gil Robinson ― who believed in me from the start and encouraged and 

supported me all the way. To Dr. Mike Kennedy ― who read my work carefully and attentively and 

made important and practical comments. 

And finally to my dear and beloved husband Ezriel ― a friend and comrade who believed in me, did not 

spare any means or efforts to support me for six long years, who encouraged me and lightened the long 

journey for me. To my late beloved mother ― who passed away in the middle of the journey without my 

being able to come to her and tell her – with satisfaction ― about the research, about the insights and 

the journey that might have brought me back to her. 

I dedicate this research to our five beloved children – Barak, Heli, Sharon, Mushi and Noam- who are 

my real creation. Each of them is part of my portrait and all of them together are my mirror. 

I

List A - Diagrams and Tables 

Part I: Introductory –The 'Self' and the Study 

Designing the Research 

Chapter 3: 

Diag. 1: The Disciplines involved in this Research Study and their 

Points of Intersection 

Diag. 2: The Search for Significance – The Creator as Researcher 

Diag. 3: The Artist-Researcher, Ego and Self, Stages of Inquiry and 

the Methodological Gap to be Filled 

Diag. 4: The Research Circle and the Methodological Gap (in white) 

to be Filled 

Chapter 4: The Language of Art 

Diag. 5: The Language of Art – Components 

Chapter 5: Methodology 

Diag. 6: A Two-Stage, Multi-Directional, Hermeneutic Investigation 

Table 1: Data Classification into Orders, Groups and Sub-Groups 

Table 2: The components of Analysis and Intertextual Interpretation 

Diag. 7: Schema of the Data Analysis Process 

Part II: The Inquiry: the Portrait and the Artistic 

Means 


Diag. 8: Artistic Means: Tree of Categories 

Diag. 8a(1): Style and Genre - Genres and Objects 

Diag. 8a(2): Style and Genre - Image and Writing 

Diag. 8b(1) Visual Values – Colour 

II 

page 

35 

38 

40 

43 

52 

64 

71 

77 

78 

90 

91 

91 

92

Diag. 8b(2) Visual Values - Materials & Technique 

Diag. 8b(3) Visual Values – Organization & Structure 

Diag. 8(C) Images with Contents 

Chapter 6: The 'Book Object' 

Diag. 9 The Development and Location of the 'Book Object' in Art 

PART III Ego Designing Portrait as Myth 

Chapter 11: Discussion 

Diag. 10 The Two Axes of the Research Study 

Diag. 11 The Chain of Observation as Pyramid of Development 

Diag. 12 Split 1: Unification and Separation 

Diag. 13 Split 2: Subject and Object 

Diag. 14 Split 3: 'Ego' and 'Self' 261 

III 

92 

93 

93 

107 

245 

247 

250 

254

Number 

ILS. 1: 

ILS. 2: 

ILS. 3: 

ILS. 4: 

ILS. 5: 

ILS. 6: 

ILS. 7: 

ILS. 8: 

ILS. 9: 

ILS. 10: 

ILS. 11: 

ILS. 12: 

ILS. 13: 

ILS. 14: 

ILS. 15: 

ILS. 16: 

ILS. 17: 

ILS. 18: 

ILS. 19: 

ILS. 20: 

ILS. 21: 

ILS. 22: 

ILS. 23: 

ILS. 24: 

Partial of the Portrait 

List B - Illustrations 

Name 

'Book- Object' – Inner Appearance 

Image and Writing 

Image with Headings 

Collage – Image with various texts 

Black and White - a 

Black and White - b 

Black and White and a Trace of Colour 

Chromatics Variations- a 

Chromatics Variations- b 

Dominant Colour – Blue 

Dominant Colour – Red- a 

Dominant Colour – Red - b 

Dominant Colour – Yellow - a 

Dominant Colour – Yellow - b 

Contrast – Yellow and Blue 

Complementarity – Red and Green 

Mixed Media 

Drawing – Charcoal and Pencil 

Dialogue –- Line and Tone of colour - a 

Dialogue – Lines and Tone of colour - b 

Repeating Patterns 

Ancient Cultures 

Aquarelle 

III 

Page 

Prologue -VI 

96 

126 

153 

154 

156 

163 

164 

170 

175 

176 

181 

185 

186 

188 

190 

194 

200 

203 

204 

211 

214 

215 

216

ILS. 25: 

ILS. 26: 

ILS. 27: 

Mixed Media 

Structure and Organisation 

The Transparent Portrait 

IV 

220 

227 

Epilogue ,P. 5

List C – Figures of the Findings 

Number Heading page App. P. 

Chapter 6: The 'Book Object' 

Fig. 1: 4 Items - The 'Book-Object' – Outer Appearance – 

'Super – Finding' (A1 (a)) 

Fig. 2: 5 Items – The 'Book- Object' - Inner Shape's – 'Super – 

Finding' (A1 (a)) 

Fig. 3: 4 Items – 'Object - Book' – Findings from 'Data Group' (B2 ) 

Fig. 4 

(a, b, c, d): 

Fig. 5 (a, b): 

13 Items - Installation- Sarah's Tent - Findings from 'Data 

Group' (A1 (b)) 

5 Items – Exhibition and Installations – Findings from 'Data 

Group' (A1 (c)) and (D1) 

Fig. 6: 1 Painting - The Three Graces – Findings from 'Data 

Group' (B1(c)) 

Chapter 7: 

'Image and Writing' 

Fig. 7: 6 Paintings – Image and Writing: Content Units – Findings 

from 'Data Group' (A1 (a)) 

Fig. 8 (a,b): 

5 Paintings – Image and original Printed Text – Findings 


Fig. 9 (a): 4 Images – details of Fig.8 

Fig. 9 (b) : 2 Items – details 

Fig. 10 (a,b): 12 Paintings – Image Combined with Printed and 

Handwriting Texts - Findings from 'Data Group' (A1(a)) 

Fig. 10 (b): 1 Item– Portrait covered with Handwriting – Detail – 

Finding from 'Data Group' (A1 (a)) 

Fig. 10 (c): 2 items - Letters and Tears – Findings from 'Data Group' 

(A1 (a)) 

Fig. 10 (d): 

2 Items –Words Detached from Text – Detail - Findings 

from 'Data Group' (a1 (a)) 

IV 

99 

100 

111 

114 - 

116 

121 

123 

129- 

130 

134 App.2: 

5 - 13 

136 

138 

140 App.2 

p. 16 -18 

147 App.2: 

p. 19 

143 

App.2: 

p.14

Fig. 11 (a) 

3 Painting – Image with Handwriting Text only – Finding 


Fig. 11 (b): 2 Items – Drawing Dialogue - Detail 

Fig. 12 (a,b): 

9 Paintings - Bird Images – Findings from 'Data Group' (A1 

(a)) 

Fig. 12 (c): 1 Item – Letters and Birds – Detail - Findings from 'Data 

Group' (A1 (a)) 

Fig. 13 (a, b): 2 Paintings - Image and Handwriting - Findings from 'Data 

Group' (B1 (b)) 

Fig. 13 (b): 1 Item – Handwriting cover the Portrait – Detail- Findings 

from 'Data Group' (B1 (b)) 

Fig. 14: 3 Paintings - Images with Text Pasted on – Findings from 

'Data Group' A1 (a)) 

Fig. 15 (a, b): 11 Paintings – Image and Headings-- Findings from 'Data 


Fig.16: 1 Painting – Collage of Image and Various Text – Finding 

from 'Data Group' (a1 (a)) 

Fig.17: 3 Paintings - The Solar Eclipse Motif – Findings from 

'Data Group' (A1 (a)) 

V 

145 App. 2 

p. 23, 

26, 

147 

App.2 

p. 30 

App. 2 

p.32 

App. 2 

p. 20 -2 

App. 2 

p. 21 -2 

149 App. 2 

p. 39 - 41 

151 

App. 2 

p. 34 

App. 2 

p. 36 

Fig. 17 (a): 1 Painting – A Crab – Finding from 'Data Group' (A1 (a)) App. 2 

p. 38 

Chapter 8: 

Colour 

Fig. 18 

(a, b, c): 

15 Paintings -Black and White- Findings from 'Data Group' 

(A1 (a)) 

Fig. 19: 7 Paintings - Black and White - Findings from 'Data 

Group' (B1 (a)) 

Fig. 20: 2 Paintings - Black and White - Findings from 'Data 

Group' (B1 (d)) 

Fig. 21: 2 Paintings - Black and White (1987) – Finding from 'Data 

Group' (B2) 

Fig. 22: 6 Images – Black and White – Findings from 'Data Group' 

(C1) 

158-9 

159 

160 

161 

161

Fig. 23: 6 Paintings - Black and White with a Trace of Red – 

Findings from 'Data Group' (A1 (a)) 

Fig. 24 (a, b): 4 Paintings – Black and White with Trace of Red- Finding 

from 'Data Groups' (B1 (a)), 9B1 (b) and (C1) 

Fig. 25 ( a,b): 7 Paintings – Black and White with a Trace of Red – 

Finding from 'Data Group' (B2) 

Fig. 26: 2 Paintings – Black and White with Traces of Yellow or 

Blue – Findings from 'Data Group' (A1 (a() 

Fig. 27 (a, b): 11 Paintings – Chromatics Variations – Findings from 'Data 


Fig. 28 (a, b): 9 Paintings -- Chromatics Variations – Findings from 'Data 

Groups' (B1 (b)) and (B2) 

Fig. 29: 5 Paintings - Dominant Colour - Blue - Findings from 

'Data Group' (a1(a)) 

Fig. 30: 6 Paintings - Dominant Colour - Blue – Findings from 

'Data Group' (B1 (b)) 

Fig. 31 (a, b): 8 Paintings - Dominant Colour - Blue – Findings from 

'Data Groups' (B1 (d)), (B2) and (C1) 

Fig. 32: 1 Painting – Blue - the Socio-Metric Structure –Findings 

from 'data Group' (D1) 

Fig. 33 (a,b): 16 Paintings - Dominant Colour - Red- Findings from 


Fig. 34: 2 Paintings - Lips and Flowers - Findings from 'Data 

Group' (A1(a)) 

Fig. 35: Photograph of Black Iris II,1927 

Fig. 36: 1 Painting - Lips and Sofa -Finding from the 'Data Group' 

(A1(a) 

Fig. 37: 1 Painting – Red and Roots - Finding from 'Data Group' 

(A1(a)) 

Fig. 38 (a,b): 9 Paintings - Dominant Colour - Red – Findings from 

'Data Group' (B1(b)) 

Fig. 39: 1 Painting - Red-Head – Findings from 'Data Group' (B1(b)) 

Fig. 40: 1 Painting – Red Hair – Findings from 'Data Group' (B1(b)) 

VI 

165 

167 

167 -8 

169 

172 

174 

178 

178 

179 

183 

184 

App. 3 

p. 54 

App. 3 

p. 57 

App. 3 

p. 58 

App. 3 

p. 58 , 

68 

App. 3 

p. 60 

App. 3 

p. 61 

App. 3 

p. 62

Fig. 41: 6 Paintings - Goddess of the Hunt and other- Red 

Dominant - Findings from 'Data Group' (c1) 

Fig. 42: 7 Paintings - Dominant Colour – Yellow – Findings from 

'Data Group' (A1(a)) 

Fig. 43: 5 Paintings - Dominant Colour – Yellow – Findings from 

'Data Group' (B1(b)) 

Fig. 44 (a, b): 4 Paintings – Contrasts - Blue and Yellow - Findings from 

'Data Groups' (B1 (b)) and (C1) 

Fig. 45: 7 Paintings – Complementarity - Red and Green – 


Fig. 46: 1 painting - Complementarity - Red and Green - Findings 


Fig. 47 (a, b): 12 Paintings - Complementarity - Red and Green – 

Findings from 'Data Groups' (B1 (b)), (B1 (d)) and (C1) 

VII 

187 

188 

192 

195 

197 

App. 3 

p. 63 

App.3 

p. 67 

Fig. 48: 5 Paintings – The Leaf - Finding from :Data Group: (B1 (b)) App.3 

p. 69 -70 

Fig. 49: 9 Paintings – Leaf's variations - Findings from 'Data Group' 

(C1) 

Chapter 9: 

Technique and Materials 

Fig. 50 (a, b): 10 Paintings - Line and Tone of Colour – Findings from 

'Data Group' (A1(a)) 

Fig. 51 (a, b): 11 Paintings - Line and Tone of Colour- Findings from 

'Data Groups' (B1 (a)) and (B1 (b)) 

Fig. 52 (a, b): 9 Paintings -- Line and Tone of Colour - Findings from 

'Data Groups' (B1 (d)) and (B2) and (C1) 

Fig. 53: 6 Paintings – Repeating and Pattern - Findings from 'Data 

Group' (A1(a)) 

Fig. 54: 4 Paintings - Repeating and Pattern – Findings from 'Data 

Groups' (B1(b)) and (B1 (c)) 

Fig. 55: 3 Paintings – Ancient Cultures - Findings from 'Data Group' 

(A1(a)) 

Fig. 56: 1 Item - Sarah's Tent – Findings from 'Data Group' (A1(b)) 

206-7 

208 

209- 

210 

214 

214 

App.3 

p. 71 - 4 

App.4 

p. 84 

App.4 

p. 85

Fig. 57(a, b, c): 18 Items - Details from Sarah's Tent – Findings from 'Data 

Group' (A1(c)) and (C1) 

VIII 

App.4 

p. 86 - 7 

Fig. 58: 1 Painting - The Eye 1 - Finding from 'Data Group' (A1 (a)) App. 4 

p.91 


p.93 


p.94 

Fig. 61: 3 examples – Lips 1- Findings from Data Group (A1 (a)) 

App. 4 

p.97 

Fig. 62: 2 examples – Lips 2 - Finding from 'Data Group' (A1 (a)) 

App. 4 

p.98 

Fig. 63: 1 Painting – Open Mouth -Findings from 'Data Group' (B1 App. 4 

(b)) 

p.99 

Fig. 64: 1 Painting – Red lips -Finding from 'Data Group' (c1) App. 4 

p. 100 

Fig. 65 (a,b): 5 Paintings - Aquarelle – Findings from 'Data Group' 218 App.2 

(A1(a)) 

p, 7 

Fig. 66: 5 Paintings - Aquarelle – Findings from 'Data Groups' 

(B1(d)) 

218 

Fig. 67: 2 Items – Reflection and Water – Findings from 'Data 

App. 4 

Group' (B1(c)) 

p. 103 

Fig. 68: 4 Paintings – Reflection Water and the Lake - Findings 


Fig. 69: 4 Images – Variation on Reflections – Findings from 'Data 

Group' (C1) 

Fig.70: 4 Items - Reflections and Mirrors – Findings from 'Data 

Group' (B2) 

Fig. 71: 7 Paintings – Mixed Media - Findings from 'Data Group' 

(A1(a)) 

Fig. 72: 4 Paintings – Mixed Media – Findings from 'Data Group' 

(B1(b)) 

Fig. 73 (a,b): 6 Paintings – Mixed Media -– Findings from 'Data Group' 

(B2) 

Chapter Organisation and Structure 

10: 

Fig. 74 (a, b,c): 15 Paintings – Parts of Faces - Findings from 'Data Group' 

(A1(a)) 

Fig. 75 (a, b): 6 Paintings – Parts of faces - Findings from 'Data Group' 

(B1(c)) 

222 

222 

225 

229 - 

230 

231 

App. 4 

p. 105-6 

App. 4 

p. 108 

App. 4 

p. 109-10

Fig. 76: 1 Painting – The Fracture – Finding from 'Data Group' 

(A1(a)) 

Fig. 77: 15 Paintings - Dismantling and Re-assembling - Findings 

from 'Data Group' (C1) 

Fig. 78: 4 items – Exhibition - Findings from 'Data Group' (D1): 

Stage 1 

Fig. 79: 3 items – Sociometric Design - Findings from 'Data Group' 

(D1): Stage 2 

Fig. 80: 2 items – Installation - Findings from 'Data Group' (D1): 

Stage 3 

Fig. 81: 3 items – Collecting and Gathering - Findings from 'Data 

Group' (D1): Stage 4 

Fig. 82: 3 Paintings –' Self- Portrait' Installation- Findings from 

"Data Group' (D2) 

Fig. 83: 4 Paintings – Dismantling and transformation- Findings 

from "Data Group' (D2) – Portrait 1 

Fig. 84: 3 Paintings – Deconstructing and Reconstructing - Findings 

from "Data Group' (D2) – portrait 1 

Fig. 85: 6 Paintings – Transformation in the Space - Findings from 

"Data Group' (D2) – portrait 2 

Fig. 86: 6 Paintings – Dismantling, Transformation and 

Reconstructing - Findings from "Data Group' (D2) – 

Portrait 2 

Fig. 87: 6 Paintings –Transformation in the Space - Findings from 

"Data Group' (D2) – portrait 3 

Fig. 88: 3 Paintings – Dismantling, Transformation and 

Reconstructing - Findings from "Data Group' (D2) – 

Portrait 3 

Fig. 89: 1 Painting – Face and Tree - Findings from 'Data Group' ( 

A1(a)) 

IX 

233 

234- 

236 

239 

App.5 

p. 113 

App.5 

p. 114 

App.5 

p. 115 

App.5 

p. 117 

App.5 

p. 119 

App.5 

p. 119 -20 

App.5 

p. 120 -1 

App.5 

p. 121-2 

App.5 

p. 123 -4 

App.5 

p. 124 -5 

App.5 

p. 125 -6

Abstract 

The research proposes a model for self-investigation combining two disciplines – Art and Qualitative 

Research. 

The research design, termed a 'chain of observations', has three stages. The starting point is the 

'Mirror Encounter' between artist and mirror, followed by 'artistic activity', when the artist-researcher 

produces self-portraits. The study sees the encounter between creative art and research methodology 

(self - study research) as two forms of self-investigation. The third stage is the artist’s investigation and 

interpretation of her own portraits. This 'chain of observations' generates a 'chain of interpretations' 

which converts visual signs to verbal text. The two chains represent a dynamic flow of transition from 

one stage to another, one language to another (the languages of art, research and art interpretation), 

and from role to role of the researcher (from investigator to the one being investigated). 

The missing link in the research task― How can the researcher objectively decodes and interprets her 

own self-portraits for the enlightenment of herself and others? ― constituted the research question. The 

study’s goal was to fill in this missing link and so demonstrate a valid process of self-investigation. The 

research design was a two-stage hermeneutic investigation. One stage paved the way to the second 

and together they created an interpretative, interdisciplinary and intertextual model of self-study that 

became a model for self-development. The research methods developed for the study contributed 

several innovations in qualitative research methodology. 

The 'mirror encounter' generated a range of encounters ― art and research, 'self' and 'ego', 'self' and 

research, between face and face, between one research method and another – which were mutually 

sustaining and inspiring, and together resulted in self-development and growth. The process of 

creatively interpreting the visual texts (the paintings) served as a tool to create the 'designing 'ego''. By 

that is meant that the study showed the conscious 'ego' to actively search for, reveal and manage 

unconscious materials with the aim of designing a comprehensive, composite portrait of the 'self'. 

A second conclusion is that though the research deals with the investigation of one particular 'self', it 

does not tell a merely individual story: the approach and design reported here could produce insights for 

anyone. 

This study represents a unique combination of art and qualitative research, which combined with the 

intertextual approach interpretation to produce a three-dimensional body of knowledge (aesthetic, 

narrative and paradigmatic) which stretches the borders of qualitative research, casts new light on the 

genre of self-portraiture and creates a connection between two dialectic concepts – logos and myth. 

V

Prologue 

"Look in the mirror 

And deeply engrave the picture in your memory. 

This is you. Your ugliness 

nakedness, pain. 

Look at yourself 

And keep the pictures in your heart. 

Do not lose the slight hold on truth, 

The truth about yourself, 

ugly, a mask, 

hurt, naked, 

wrapped in iron, the iron of protection" 

(Portrait, Yahav Or) •••• 

The immortal line of the mother queen "Mirror, mirror on the wall…" entered my world straight from 

fairy tales. I was a new student in the Department of Art, without any experience or knowledge in 

drawing, but keen, inquisitive and full of a passion to create. Relations between me and the mirror, or 

rather between me and myself, were complex. The mirror just stood as an empty mediator which filled 

up whenever I approached it, with charcoal, paint and enormous curiosity. Then the lecturer set us the 

exercise of "drawing a self-portrait" and told me: "You will love this ". I did not understand why he said 

so and later, when I found myself spending days and nights painting self-portraits, I still could not 

explain how he had known. Later I met him when I was already an experienced artist and he was on 

the staff of the art school I headed. I summoned my courage and asked him: How on earth could you 

know? 

Painting self-portraits became a subject that fascinated me more than any other. My first solo exhibition 

(1987), My environment and myself, consisted of numerous self-portraits. Whenever I could I would 

stand in front of the studio mirror and challenge myself "to succeed in painting myself correctly and 

well". 

What is ‘correct’? What is ‘well’? What does it mean ‘to succeed’? I thought it meant simply 'to draw 

someone resembling myself', 'like in real life', to be able to tell myself I am a good painter. To create for 

myself the image of a skilled artist. Sometimes I took a hard line and chose a monastic pencil and 

VI 

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http://stage.co.il/Stories/308001

diligent work. Sometimes, sick and tired of this, the painting erupted in a variety of colours and 

materials. Always my displeasure with the final product led me to the next work, with the hidden wish 

that "maybe this time it will come out better". 

Over the years I have had various jobs. I have taught, taken part in different art projects, founded an art 

department at the College, produced art works on different subjects and distanced myself from the 

personal intimate work in the studio. Yet, in my heart I carried a constant longing, to return to the studio 

and finally succeed in painting myself properly. Perhaps I longed to meet myself. 

When I chose to combine research and creative work I knew already that to paint myself in front of a 

mirror was to investigate the inner self. I understood it was a form of research. I also understood that all 

this studio work, over and again in front of a mirror, deciding with each painting that the task was not yet 

done, was a concrete metaphor of the process of self-investigation. Later I realised that this 

investigation would not be complete until I could feel satisfied with a self-portrait. My discontent turned 

out to be a blessing. 

Looking at myself in the mirror, the story of Narcissus echoed in my mind. I knew that some would say 

that this was the sin of self-love, and I was prepared to face those who raised their eyebrows about my 

obsessive self-preoccupation. All I was asking was: "Mirror, mirror, tell me who I am". In other words, 

"What kind of painter am I?" In every painting I re-discovered myself and still the work remained 

unfinished. Every painting presented me with another aspect of all my faces. The excuse I gave myself 

for going on was always ― you must paint better, more correctly, the real you. Sometimes I thought I 

would not succeed until I knew who I was. Only then would I not need this tool any more. 

In the meantime, I stand in front of the mirror and every time this concrete metaphor re-echoes the 

question – Who am I? And if it is not allowed to say so aloud, then I ask it with paint, paper and brush. 

And so, slowly, the picture clarifies: I am investigating my 'self', and every painting is the outcome of that 

day’s and that occasion’s research. And the answers pile up. Another portrait and another, every one an 

answer to the question silently put to the mirror: "Who am I? What is my story?" 

As an art lecturer and a working artist I had fairly clear ideas about what constituted a good picture, as I 

also knew that ‘resemblance’ is not necessarily a good outcome. But I was in two minds. On the one 

hand, professional knowledge and on the other, the irritating challenge― to paint a self-portrait that 

looked like me. It was as if the camera had never been invented and that Expressionist artists and their 

like had never existed. But the dissatisfaction of an unsolved dilemma drove me to do it again and 

again. That lecturer had said, "You will love this", but I knew that I had never loved the outcome, but 

only longed for the next attempt to succeed. 

VII

Then the big "Who am I" question, which kept echoing between me and the mirror, was joined by a 

second question: Why am I doing this? What is really going on here? What kind of answers are these 

portraits giving me? And that was the genesis of this study ― to research this method of self- 

investigation. 

If till now I have inquired into myself secretly, now I am opening an official investigation. I return to the 

'mirror stage', the developmental stage when a baby discovers himself as an object, exposed to himself 

and the world. Like that same baby who, filled with wonder, meets his own image, here I am, an adult 

but enough of a child to re-echo that imploring question: "Mirror, mirror, on the wall…" 

VIII 

ILS. 1: Partial of the Portrait

PART I 

INTRODUCTORY: THE 'SELF' AND THE 'STUDY' 

In this chapter: 

Chapter 1: 

THE ARTIST / RESEARCHER DECLARATION 


1.2 Painting a 'Self- Portrait' – Phenomenon – Human Behaviour 

1.3 Why a Painting of a 'Self – Portrait' – Why I 

1.4 Art- Based Research 

1.5 The Hermeneutic Circle – Self Development 

Summary 

_____________ 

"Man is still a riddle unto himself. 

The portraits he creates represent only 

a small part of what he knows about himself, 

but mainly his wondering and searching. 

They testify but do not teach anything. 

Those who wish to understand must first of all open their eyes and ears to these testimonies. 

(Werbelovsky, 1992) 

1


Picasso used to say "I never made a painting as a work of art, it's all research"(quoted in McNiff, 2007) 

A painter is indeed a researcher, and the tools of his research are colours, canvases, paint brushes and 

the language of art. Merleau–Ponty (in Kenaan, 2004) presents the artists as the ultimate 

phenomenological researchers for their unique ability to see and expose what is hidden in the depth of 

the visible. While investigating reality and exposing what is hidden, they interpret reality. Lorand (1991) 

defines this as an interpretation that complements reality. 

The artist is a subjective researcher of reality, hence any reality investigated by him, becomes his own, 

inner reality. Therefore Whiteford (1987) says that each painting is, in fact, a kind of self - portrait. From 

this we may infer that the artist who is actually painting a self - portrait is an investigating artist who is 

clearly occupied with researching the 'self' (Tadmor, 1973; Peiper, 1983; West, 2004). An artist who 

does this with devotion and consistency is thus writing a visual, autobiographical story (West, 2004). 

Painters have had a number of reasons to be occupied with self - portraits; it depends on period, place, 

culture and style. But all dealt, either openly or not, consciously or subconsciously, with investigating the 

'self' (Tadmor, 1973; Peiper, 1983; West, 2004). 

The most prominent among the artists who dealt with investigating the 'self' in a clear and deliberate 

manner were those of the expressionistic school l (among them Egon Schiele, Oskar Kokoschka, Emil 

Nolde and others from the "der Blaue Reiter" and the "Bridge" groups). They mainly sought their inner 

reality. The language of art, the medium and technique were their research tools, and the manner in 

which they painted helped them to shout and even show their shouting. It is no coincidence that this 

stream, which gave expression to the movements of the soul, developed at the time that Freud 

published and exposed for the first time his theory of the subconscious (West, 2004).This style 

developed in the period between the world wars, at a time when the subject placed himself in the 

centre, kicking the world, disappointed and withdrawn into his own world, and shouting from there 

(Whiteford, 1987; Chilvers, 2003 ; West, 2004) (see chapter 4 – The Language of the Art). 

Many years earlier Rembrandt investigated his physical appearance as it showed up in the mirror. It 

seems as if he was occupied with researching the structure of the face, the anatomy, striving to improve 

his ability to copy reality. But in fact, for many years he observed himself and at the end gave the world 

a visual, autobiographical story. While he was busy, and in an investigative manner, deeply observing 

the model of the painting (his image in the mirror) and working on the development of his proficiency as 

a portrait painter, he was, in fact, investigating himself and documenting his life. He did not only 

describe his inner world, but also the state of the body, the soul and the human spirit (Schildkraut, 1999; 

2

Bruce, 1999; Lurie, 2006). Rembrandt was a painter who investigated the medium while using himself 

as a model for research, but in dealing with the investigation of the 'self' he was 'born before his time'. 

Hundreds of years later Frida Kahlo does this too, investigating her inner world via the surrealist style of 

painting. This style carries on a dialogue with the subconscious and gives it awareness and presence 

(Chadwick, 1998). Kahlo surrounds herself with mirrors, and for years – and in dozens of paintings – 

she catches her image and soul on the canvas. In these paintings she tells the story of her life to both 

herself and to the world. In her paintings she shatters the borders between reality and imagination, 

creates bridges between the conscious and subconscious, studies her soul and heals it. In her paintings 

the question "who am I?" constantly reverberates. She asks and investigates how her identity, with its 

various components, was formed, and at the same time she touches on philosophical questions that 

deal with the essence of human existence (Ankori, 2003). 

Francis Bacon, the English painter of the 20 th century, is also involved in investigating the 'self'. He, too, 

wishes to state something about the general state of the human being through a personal and profound 

investigation. For him, the brush and paint are like a surgeon's scalpel with which he tries to tear off the 

facial skin and bare the living flesh, trembling and bleeding. Thus he creates a metaphor with the help of 

which he states that the visible skin is both a cover and a mask. In his painting he cuts the facial skin so 

as to reach the living, pulsating and real thing (Kundrea, 1996). 

Cezanne, too, studies and teaches the subject of the human soul through the investigation of his own 

face. In his research he focuses on form, material and structure. He investigates the range of 

opportunities of the language of art via his own face. This way of investigation strengthens and confirms 

the hypothesis that what we have here is a subject investigating himself, using perceptible, physical 

tools, and at the end these tools tell the story of both the outer appearance and the story of the inner 

soul (Chilvers, 2003). 

Picasso uses the portrait to investigate points of view. He tries to catch different points of view in one 

space, at one time. With the help of the painting he makes the impossible possible. In what seems to be 

a grotesque manner he presents a portrait that is both a profile and a frontal view (Vardi, 2007). This is 

a painted and concrete example of Jung's (1993) theory in which he claims that the total personality of 

man has many sides, contrasting – and at times even conflicting – personalities. Jung claims that it is 

both possible and necessary to connect the parts and arrive at the crystallisation of uniqueness. 

Picasso both disassembles and unifies, and shows this with his paintings. Picasso also paints a portrait 

like a mask, and in this way again connects to Jung's approach in which the latter defines the 

externalised personality of man as persona 1 (Storr, 1991). 

3 

1 

Persona – in the original Latin means a mask

The above are some examples of a number of artists from different periods who dealt with the self - 

portrait. The difference between them is in style, objectives and motivation, but what they have in 

common is that they are occupied with investigating the 'self'. In their investigations they caused what is 

hidden to be exposed and become visible. In this way they are worthwhile to every social researcher 

who considers research as a way of making things visible (Denzin and Lincoln, 1994). 

I consider a painter who does a self - portrait to be an investigator of reality, and for the sake of my 

research here I claim that this is only the beginning of the investigation. In my research I wish to bridge 

and connect between two forms of research and give additional meaning to the phenomenon of painting 

a self - portrait. In addition to Lorand's (1991) definition who considers painting a complementary 

interpretation, I claim that this is only one link in a chain of interpretations, especially when one deals 

with investigating the 'self' (which cries out from the paintings of self - portraits). That will be the point 

from which my research question will develop (see chapter 2 – Meta- Introduction; chapter 3 – 

Designing the Research). 

1.2 Painting a Self- Portrait – Phenomenon – Human Behaviour 

For the purpose of the present investigation I define the phenomenon of painting a self - portrait as a 

kind of human behaviour. This phenomenon is characterised by unique behaviour and represents a kind 

of self-investigation. This behaviour has a language, an environment, tools and rules, and its products 

both document and perpetuate it. In my research I wish to study this phenomenon through the 

products that it creates. The aim of this research is to continue the investigation that started in the 

act of painting, to create new knowledge, turn the process of investigation that exists here into a 

tool and lever for personal, mental and self - development. 

The phenomenon that has been described as human behaviour describes and represents an 

investigation and its products are the interpretations that complement reality. I wish to state that this 

inquiry is not complete; hence it should be continued and completed. By this I mean that painting a self - 

portrait, according to this research, is an investigation that demands to be investigated. I therefore 

combine two disciplines – 'qualitative research' and 'art', and as stated by Maxine Green, in my research 

I do not wish to explain or measure but to search for the meaning of things (in Baldacchino, 2009). I 

intend to find a way through which I will be able to expose what is hidden inside the visible, and 

consider the various processes of exposure to be my main interest. 

4

Artists who chose painting self - portraits as a way of life (like those mentioned above) represent 

behaviour that can be described as self-concentrated; self- analysis; self- discovery. This connects the 

artistic activity to mental processes. Aristotle (384-322 BC) was the first to state that art has therapeutic 

value (in Lorand, 1991). The field of art therapy gives this meaning and applicability (Dalley, 1995; Noy, 

1999; Or, 2005). Freud (1988) stresses that the occupation with art has sublimating value, Jung (1993) 

underlines the special skill that creative people have in dealing with mental processes, and 

recommends creative activity, Noy (1999) points at the psychoanalytic components of the creative 

thinking process and Storr (1991) points at the mental dynamics of the creative processes. All these 

show the inseparable connection between art and soul (mind). 

The Medical School at the University of Missouri in Kansas has chosen to include in the study of 

medicine a theoretical and practical course in art. The course is called "Healing and the Arts", and its 

stated purpose is to give students a theoretical and practical experience of how the arts can be healing 

force in people's lives (Sirridge and Martin, 2006).One can add that the processes of self investigation 

that are here embodied in art have also a therapeutic value. In my research I wish to stress the 

therapeutic value in the sense of 'well being' (ibid.) and in the sense of self development ,self discovery 

and self fulfilment (Jung, 1989, 1993). 

I consider this human behaviour to be a call and an opportunity to broaden self investigation, and in 

order to achieve this end I add an additional dimension defined as 'investigative- activity' to the primary 

investigative process that had been defined as 'artistic activity' (see chapter 2- Meta Introduction). In my 

research I conduct a process of self investigation that moves along two axes. One axis is the one of 

investigation, and has two forms of investigation – art and research .The other axis is the axis of the 

'self' in which I am the researcher who conducts an investigation of her own products (professionalism) 

and her mental processes ('self'). I have described this as the strengthening encounter between 'ego' 

and 'self' (see chapter 3 – Designing the Research; chapter 11 – Discussion). The encounter between 

these axes creates a graph (Dig 10:247) which describes the process of investigation, creating 

knowledge and meaning as an expanded process of investigation of the 'self' that leads to growth and 

development. This development is the creation of the real portrait of the 'self'. 

5

3.1 Why a Painting of a Self - Portrait – Why I 

On the axis of the "self" I am the artist/researcher who continuously paints a self - portrait. I started the 

above discussion by presenting some of the greatest artists who are identified as those who painted self 

- portraits. I have chosen to present them as background and basis of the investigated phenomenon. I 

do not intend in this research to compare myself with these giants, or to place myself as an equal. They 

were presented as a model of the phenomenon and through them I wished to describe some of the 

outstanding characteristics of the phenomenon. As an active painter who works in this genre, I embody 

in a practical and real manner the phenomenon that has been defined here as human behaviour. This 

enabled me to establish and form a research situation and define it as a case-study. 

In her article Auto/biography as Performative PhD Thesis, Sally Berridge (2008) describes her research. 

She investigates and creates an autobiography while being occupied with memories and creating an 

identity. Her research is carried out as a work of art. She defines her overall investigative work as 

bricolage and presents a visual object that she defines as an 'Artist - Book' (Livre d'artiste) as the 

dominant part of her doctoral thesis. In her article Art- based research and creative PhD (2007) she 

presents herself as a researcher and artist and explains that though she presents a work of art as a 

researched work for her doctoral thesis, she does not consider it as 'great art' "but as the 'ordinary' 

generic art that has not yet been 'discovered', but may be explored in a creative doctorate"(ibid.). 

I join her statements and wish to point out that I do not place my portraits in the honoured pantheon of 

the masters as an artistic phenomenon, but closely examine the phenomenon which I have defined as 

human behaviour as a research case. In other words, in this research and via this phenomenon I wish 

to push both forward and onward the borders of the investigation of the 'self', the possibilities and 

processes of this research. 

From both the phenomenon and its products (the paintings) reverberates the subject's question of 'who 

am I?', and demonstrates obedience to the Socratic statement 'know thyself'. Repeating this action 

again and again points to the fact that the question is disturbing, and raises the assumption that 

perhaps the answer is the actual preoccupation with the question. To ask and to paint, and again to ask 

and to paint. I can identify a closed circle here. Every time the question arises and disturbs, the painter 

creates a painting, receives an answer, the answer does not satisfy him and then he returns and paints. 

It is a closed circle which here, with the help of qualitative research tools, I wish to open. 

Winnicott (1971) explains that the soul leads us astray and plays hide-and-seek with us. On the one 

hand, it strives to be seen, and on the other hand it hides. He is of the opinion that the artist's work 

demonstrates and expresses this. The artist bares and exposes via the painting, while at the same time 

he hides inside the painting. In other words, the painting and the language of the painting are able to 

6

aise hidden entities from the inner soul and present them through signs and shapes. But at the same 

time that language of signs and shapes also hides and encodes these entities. This is the contents and 

these are the messages hidden in the signs, which, in fact, are symbols and metaphors 2 (Storr, 1991; 

Noy, 1999) (see chapter 4 – The Language of The Art) 

I wish to suggest that both the action and its product, each separately, is a metaphor on its own. The 

action is a metaphor of the processes of investigating the 'self' and creating the 'self'. The products are a 

metaphor of the contents of the 'self'. This is a metaphor of the process of investigating the 'self' that 

creates a metaphor for the contents of investigating the 'self'. In my research I wish to extract the 

contents of the 'self', describe the research process and later make use of these insights. The closed 

metaphoric circle is the foundation on which questions have grown which led to the central question of 

this research. 

How can one extract, discover and expose the story that the painting carries and contains? What is 

there beneath the visible surface? How can one take apart the tidy and precise structure of the painting 

so as to bare and understand the phenomenon it embodies? What can the researcher / creator/ artist 

discover about himself beyond what he has already found out? What is the meaning of researching an 

investigation? How can one do this? What knowledge can be gained from this? And what is the 

significance of this knowledge? All these questions flow into one central question on which my research 

focuses. 

The question that directed me to focus on methodology was how, and in what ways, can one 

consider the phenomenon of portrait painting as a form of investigation of the 'self' and a means 

of producing knowledge. My research approach is based on combining research and art, and creating 

a method for research and interpretation. My research focuses on processes – investigation and 

interpretation - which I claim are the key to mental development. In this way I continue the process that 

is already embodied in the phenomenon and in the human behaviour that was chosen for this research 

– painting a self - portrait. I say that the phenomenon, by its very nature, begs the continuation of the 

investigation, and the art demands the research. In the spirit of the research I continue and claim that 

the 'self' invites the 'ego' (as explained in chapters 3 and 11). 

The self - portraits that have been produced in this research (and all many others, too) have a double 

function. They are both the answer (to the question 'who am I') and the question (what is this, what does 

it mean). As I said earlier, a painting demands research. In other words, research demands research. 

Hence I have added another dimension of research to the research that took place via the act of 

2 A metaphor is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase literally denoting one kind of object or idea is used in place of 

another to suggest a likeness or analogy between them. This word originates in the ancient Greek language – 'meta' 

meaning beyond or through; 'pherein' meaning to carry or drag. 

7

painting. I therefore defined the research activity in this investigation as investigation on investigation, 

thus adding another research form that belongs to the genre of Art-based research. In my research I 

describe this as a 'Chain of observations' which simultaneously creates a 'Chain of interpretations' (see 

chapter 2 – Meta- Introduction). 

I do not state that my methodology will offer a final answer, one which might not have been obtained 

from the primary research process (the artistic activity). I do intend to present a hermeneutic circle (Eco, 

2007) in which 'research on research' creates 'interpretation of an interpretation'. In this way I intend to 

present human behaviour in which the subject can increase the range of possibilities of investigating the 

'self', while the actual being inside the processes of investigation and interpretation is the answer to the 

question of 'who am I ?'. This is in the spirit of Kierkegaard (2002) who says that the actual search for 

truth is the truth. In my investigation I wish to suggest a way in which two ways of research, art and 

qualitative research, can be combined to enable the realisation of an investigative process of research 

and self discovery, the meaning of which is self -development, growth, expansion and empowerment. 

1. 4 Art- Based Research 

Categorically, my research belongs to the developing genre called Art-based research. One of the 

approaches in this genre is called Practice – based research. At first glance it seems that my research 

belongs to this genre because here there is an artistic activity. Further on I will argue that this is not the 

approach that I use, but first I would like to mention some ideas that concern the genre Art-based 

research. 

Congresses take place in different parts of the world dealing with the issue of Art-based research. 

Qualitative researchers meet artists who wish to work in art in the framework of research and doctoral 

theses. At these congresses, qualitative researchers and creating artists wish to define the integration 

between research and art and consider artistic activity as an academic research. At a meeting that took 

place in Hertfordshire in England, Biggs ( 2000) 

proposes a series of questions with which he wants to 

bridge between the creativity which typifies art and systematic work that is typical of research. 

Congresses such as this continue to take place all over the world and express two ideas. On the one 

hand the real need of the world of art to enter the world of academic research, and on the other hand 

the desire of world of qualitative research to open up to diverse forms of investigation. 

Practice- based research represents the voice of creating artists who want to focus on creating and 

consider it a clear issue of research. McNiff ( 1998) 

, a creative artist, art therapist and academic 

8

esearcher, leads this approach and claims that artistic activity is a form of research similar to any 

academic process. It has structure, method, tools; one can follow the processes, document them, draw 

conclusions and construct a theory. He claims that one must allow art to conduct itself in its own 

language and respect the research that takes place in the territory of its unique language. McNiff (2007) 

proposes to conduct dialogues with the work of art and in this way extricate from it the contents and the 

messages it contains. This approach corresponds to the Jungian active imagination method (Jung, 

1989; Storr, 1998). In his opinion, the methodology exists already in the creativity itself, the paintings 

are the findings and the dialogue that the creator/researcher conducts with them is the interpretation 

from which one can continue and conceptualise. This approach was strengthened in the congress Arts 

research – the state of play' which took place in Dublin (2008). 

Berridge ( 2006) 

, an artist and researcher who created the 'Artist's Book' in her autobiographical 

research considers herself to be a qualitative researcher and ascribes her research to the genre action - 

research because of the spiral of self-reflective steps that take place. She discusses the way in which 

the research was conducted as cyclical and spiral (action research features), both in the context of 

creating an autobiography and in the context of the artistic activity. In addition, she defines and 

describes her research as bricolage (as mentioned before), thus defining both the action and the 

product. This term originated in architecture and art, and has been borrowed by the field of research. 

A bricoleur is an amateur 'engineer' who produces a creation made of previous objects, the identity of 

which has not been blurred. Bricolage represents the post modern technique of "putting together" a 

variety of historical and contrasting styles in order to highlight their, perhaps, artificial, arbitrary and 

ironic existence (Gurevitz, 1997). In the field of research, Denzin and Lincoln (1994, 2005) explain that 

the bricoleur must have not only the skills of a quilt maker or jazz improviser, but must be able to use 

multiple methods. 

Kincheloe (2005) expands this approach and describes bricolage as a complex, multi-methodological, 

multilogical form of inquiry that focuses on webs of relationships instead of simply ‘things-in themselves. 

Berridge in her research creates a kind of patchwork of the methods investigation, of various materials, 

research methods, the connection between the language of art and the language of words, between 

cultures and between her private, personal story and a universal, historic one. She reinforces her 

approach by quoting Finley (2005) that says that Arts-based inquiry as a methodological and theoretical 

genre holds a unique place in new forms of post modern qualitative inquiry. It allows for the multiple 

ways in which the world can be seen, and for the many ways in which experience can be constructed. 

I have found it important to mention the work of Berridge (and will return to it later) because she deals 

with research via art, in self- study research, investigation of the 'self', in bricolage, in action - research, 

9

in autobiographical writing, and in combining creative activity and interpretative writing. These topics 

appear in my research as well. 

Other similarities between Berridge's research and mine validate, strengthen and legitimise my concern 

with art as research, investigating the 'self', and combining qualitative research and art. Nevertheless, 

there are some differences between the two investigations. These differences make each of them 

unique, thus strengthening each other. 

Berridge defines her research as an action research, but since it is of the genre Art-based research, its 

approach is also Practice- based research. My investigation is not in this category despite the fact that it 

has some of its characteristics. In my research I do not carry out research via artistic activity. The 

creation is not the research, it serves the research. The 'artistic activity' in which I paint self - portraits is 

carried out for the sake of investigation. The act of painting is the research's field work and collection of 

data. This is the data that I will later investigate, analyse and interpret. The research is qualitative and 

the portraits are the data that represent the phenomenon, are derived from it and contain its contents. 

My basic assumption in this research is that one stage of the investigation has already taken place 

(human behaviour – painting a self - portrait – investigation of the 'self'). The act of painting is a form of 

research that acts in an autonomic manner, in a unique field. Qualitative research is a tool that can be 

activated in any discipline, including art. As mentioned earlier, I consider the phenomenon of 

investigating the 'self' that takes place via painting a self - portrait as a call and opportunity the meaning 

of which is a wide and multi-layered interpretative process. This process contributes to self 

development, growth, enrichment, awareness and investigative ability which act together on the 

different parts of the personality – conscious and sub-conscious - 'ego'' and 'self' (see chapter 3 – 

Designing the Research; chapter 11 - Discussion). 

Other research genres such as Action- research ,Self- study research and Practice-based research do 

reverberate in my research, as is possible and can happen in qualitative research (Shkedi, 2003) I 

define them as 'work environment' (See chapter 5 – Methodology). These are parts of the inclusive 

genre of Art- based research. In this research I intend to deal with hermeneutics, i.e. the interpretation 

of texts. For this purpose the portrait paintings have been defined as 'interpretative visual texts' - 

interpreting and being interpreted (see chapter 2 – Meta – Introduction). 

From the process in which I work at painting a self - portrait and investigating my 'self', I go on to the 

stage by which the products become the subject of investigation. The products of the 'self' are 

investigated by a research process in which the main point moves from investigating the 'self' to 

investigating the 'text'. This transition is only one of the several transitions that take place in the 

research. [Additional transitions are between different forms of investigation, different languages, roles, 

styles, cultural movements, researcher and researched, forms of interpretation (See chapter 2 – Meta - 

10

Introduction; Chapter 3 – Designing the Research). The transition from the investigated 'self' to the 

investigated 'text' is the main point of the research which I have also defined as a 'crossroads' (ibid.). 

This is what has enabled me to be the investigator when I deal with data created by myself (ibid.). 

The description and definition of the research by Berridge (2007, 2008) as bricolage can also suit a 

large extent my research. The structure I created for the investigation's purpose (the 'Chain of 

observations' and the 'Chain of interpretations'; the transitions described above; ' Artist - Book') have the 

characteristics of bricolage. Nevertheless, this is not how I define my research. In my opinion, and in 

accordance with the characteristics of my research, I define it as an intertextual phenomenon, and use 

the intertextual interpretative approach to analyse and interpret (see chapter 5 - Methodology). Azulay 

(2006) an intertextual researcher and initiator, finds common characteristics between intertextuality and 

bricolage. 

This is the essential difference between the two investigations. Berridge's is research through a work of 

art and therefore can be defined with a term borrowed from architecture and art. This research is the 

interpretation of texts; hence the terminology is from the field of hermeneutics. 

Weber and Mitchell ( 2004) 

explain that Art - based research is a combination of Action- research with 

Self-study research, a combination that provides a unique form of research that makes it possible to 

grasp what cannot be grasped as well as what exists beyond. I agree with this opinion and wish to add 

that Art - based research offers a combination of two areas which together can produce new, unique 

and complex knowledge. Art has a way of producing different ways of knowing (Allen, 1995). It produces 

unique knowledge defined by Eisner (1985) as an 'aesthetic knowledge'. The 'hermeneutic investigation' 

that is composed of two stages produces two, additional, kinds of knowledge which Bruner (1990) 

defines as 'paradigmatic knowledge' and 'narrative knowledge'. In 'Art - based research' one can 

produce knowledge made of these three kinds, thus increasing the possibility to expose the elusive and 

what exists beyond it– and obtain knowledge that I will define as three dimensional, or – using the 

terminology of Richardson ( 2000) – 'crystalline knowledge'. 

I started my investigative journey in art, but this is a journey that took place and stands on its own. It 

reached the research as a phenomenon, and turns into intensified action so as to face another, 

additional investigation. The combination of the two kinds of inquiry expanded and deepened the 

possibilities for investigation of the 'self', thus also creating new knowledge. The combination pointed at 

the expansion of the research process, and this – plus the way it was conducted – would be one of the 

important reservoirs that accumulated in this research. I wish to claim that the knowledge that was 

created from this combination originates from three states: from the interpretative contents, in the field 

of methodology and as an applicable model for the investigation of the 'self'. 

11

The 'artistic activity' in the field of research enabled me to produce 'visual images' which, for the 

'hermeneutic investigation', were defined in this research as 'visual texts'. I did not research with 

creative processes, but created for the purpose of research. Qualitative research values highly the use 

of visual images in its research, images that aim to provide a deep understanding of human behaviour 

(Prosser, 1998b). Qualitative researchers consider visual images to be a very important research tool. 

Image reveals as least as much about the person who took or chose or produced it .Using images can 

this facilitate or encourage a certain transparency, introducing the potential for reflexivity into research 

design. By its very nature, artistic expression taps into and reveals aspects of the self and puts us in 

closer touch to how we really feel and look and act. Paradoxically, such self-revelation also forces us to 

take a step back and look at ourselves from a new perspective provided by the medium itself, increasing 

the potential that we will better understand our own subjectivity, leading to humbler and more nuanced 

knowledge claims (Weber, 2008). 

From the above we can understand the importance and significance of the production of portrait 

paintings in this research. Weber (ibid) even stresses that the researcher can ask the researched to 

produce visual images or, alternately, create these himself. 

There are researchers who are sceptical and fear that the connection between art and research will 

harm the natural flow of creativity (Stewart, 2003). I, too considered this issue (see chapter 5 – 

Methodology). I join those who claim that this combination does not inhibit creativity. On the contrary, it 

increases the range of possibilities of creative research and researched creativity (ibid.). In my opinion 

this is a synergetic combination in which the whole is larger than the sum of its components. 

As an active and creative artist I agree with those who claim that art is autonomic, active inside itself, 

from itself and for itself (Lorand, 1991). But in the present research I do not act as an absolute artist, 

rather as an investigating artist. I lend myself, my skills and abilities to research. In this research I make 

use of the advantage and personal experience that I have and use them as a tool for demonstrating and 

studying the investigation of the 'self', as a bridge to the understanding of the private 'self' and the 

understanding of mental process in general. This is the reason that in this case I am prepared to 

expropriate art from its exclusivity and donate it to the benefit of the continuing investigation. 

Hohenstein 

( 2009) 

calls this process "experinentum" and describes it as a form of work and research in 

which praxis and practice are not for the purpose of a reproduction machine but as place where art can 

be created under other conditions. This means, creating as research and for research purposes. In his 

opinion this is a way to create new and different knowledge which he defines as 'art knowledge' (ibid.). I 

will add to this that this kind of knowledge and the way I present it in this research also creates 'self – 

knowledge'. Hence I want to combine the definition of Allen 

12 

( 1995) 

'art is a way of knowing' and the

definition of Hohenstein 'art knowledge', and describe the connection in this investigation between art 

and research via painting a self - portrait and investigation of the 'self' as the art knowledge of the self. 

To conclude this part, I will point out that though the starting point of this research depends on praxis, 

and though we have here both action and artistic activity, I do not define my research as Practice – 

based research. One could say here 'Practice as a condition for research', or 'practice for research', and 

also 'practice as researchable phenomenon'. In the chapter that deals with methodology (5) I placed my 

research between the various genres it is near to, and accordingly I defined it with the term Artist – 

Self- Case- Study as a genre in the inclusive approach Art- based research. I think I can claim that one 

may consider this term an innovation and addition to other approaches that exist in this genre. 

1. 5 The Hermeneutic Circle – Self – Development 

I have defined the portraits I created for this research as an 'interpretative visual text'. Dronsfield (2009) 

says that a visual image is a form that includes writing. He does not mean artistic writing but the 

contents written in the visual work of art. One cannot separate the material from its contents. And even 

though they appear together, there is not always compatibility between them. On the contrary, there 

may be differences. The space that is created between the visible and the hidden texts is the place 

which the researcher is invited to enter, whichever methodological model he chooses. Dronsfield calls 

this 'art writing' .This is the writing the origins of which are the visual signs that contain speech, contents 

and words, the story. "Art writing what is wants to say of itself – this is what the researcher can draw 

from the visible"(ibid.). 

Investigation of the 'self' situated inside the hermeneutic circle. The artist bares and discovers what is 

hidden, and plants it in a painting. Visual signs tell a story. What is exposed kills itself, as Lacan says 

language both gives life and kills (in Vanier, 2003). He means the spoken language, and I claim that the 

same is true about the language of art (See chapter 4 – The Language of The Art). Here the qualitative 

researcher continues the process of exposure, and this time his intention is to bare the words that are 

behind the signs. Here I compare the combination of the two ways of investigation to the exposure of a 

camera's aperture adjuster, to allow the shining light to enter; Light in the sense of enlightenment, 

illumination and interpretation. 

A pursuit and surveillance of the same Winnicotian 'self' becomes apparent, evasive as in the game of 

hide-and-seek, following the voice of that slippery, Lacanian 'other self' (in Vanier, 2003), that appears in 

the mirror, after the Levinasian subject (in Schonfeld, 2007) that searches for other faces so as to learn 

13

about his own face, after the 'self' that peeks out from the work of art and still remains hidden. The 

hermeneutic circle that starts with painting a 'self- portrait' is a metaphor of the process of investigation 

of the 'self'. It also serves as a sketch and road map to discover and expose the 'self'. I wish to say that 

the painting of a self- portrait is a process of creating and building the portrait of the self through a 

journey of investigation and interpretation. I claim that the actual search for means of interpretation and 

their use is the way to catch that slippery 'self'. The 'self', while being caught, is also created, as is 

demonstrated in the act of painting and in the product. 

The centrality of the 'self' in this investigation raises a few questions. A sceptic might wonder – is one 

not self-indulgent, overly concentrated in the 'self', guilty of narcissism? Can a researcher really 

investigate himself? And what can the contribution of such research be? These topics are widely 

discussed in the research itself (see chapter 3 – Designing the Research; chapter 5 – Methodology/ 

Reliability/ Ethics). Here I will explain them briefly. 

The phenomenon at the basis of this research is the investigation of the 'self' through painting a self- 

portrait. Researchers tend to ascribe narcissistic characteristics to artists, especially to those who paint 

self- portraits (Pieper, 1983; West, 2004). Therefore, the phenomenon of narcissism is a basic fact and 

data that comes to the research together with the investigated phenomenon. The investigation 

researches the phenomenon, identifies it and copes with it (see chapters 8, 9). Self- analysis and self- 

concentration are part of the phenomena and signs of human behaviour that are being investigated. In 

this research I do not intend to explain the phenomenon of narcissism, neither apologise for it. I intend 

to use it, point at it, present its significance in my research, and use it as a lever for development (see 

chapter 11 - Discussion). 

Since the discussion is about investigating the 'self' I base my writings also on Jung's theory (1989) that 

encouraged the investigation of the 'self', and developed ways to research and self- discovery. On the 

basis of personal experience which he called self-therapy? Jung stressed that in order to achieve self - 

realisation fulfilment and well- being, the subject must be occupied in creative ways with investigation of 

the 'self'. This is an endless, developmental, process. Jung describes this as a descent to depths that 

have no bottom. In this way man learns about himself, discovers and invents himself, and thus becomes 

stronger. 

The centrality of the 'self' in my research is justified also by the theory of Emmanuel Levinas, who gives 

it a principled, moral and ethical basis. Schonfeld (2007 ) in his book Wonder of Subjectivity presents 

and explains the theory of Levinas which is called The Phenomenology of the Face. Levinas opposes 

the tyranny of western philosophy that removed the subject from the centre and wishes to give back to 

the subject the central place and honour. In his opinion, the individual, his body and his face are the 

point of departure for learning about the other and the general public. A face-to-face encounter between 

14

individuals. This phenomenon appears in my research at the stage that I have defined as the 'mirror 

encounter'. Here it reverberates with the Lacanian 'mirror stage' (in Vanier, 2003), to narcissism, the 

significance of the mirror, the primary stage of development and the therapeutic potential that exist in 

this investigation (see chapter 11 - Discussion). 

Qualitative research recognises the importance of the individual and the unavoidable subjectivity and 

the importance given to it. This is especially prominent in the research methods for example Self-study 

research; Action - research (Keini, 2006; Kosminsky ,2007) (a subject that has been raised earlier). But 

the significance of the individual appears also from the principles and characteristics of the Case- study 

method, as mentioned by Yosiphon (2002) who says that with a Case- study one can study the special 

individual as well as about him. 

The hermeneutic circle, or as it is defined here as a gradual, graded process, 'hermeneutic investigation' 

and 'chain of interpretations' – shows that an investigation of the 'self' is an expanding process of 

interpretation, done by the subject himself. Winnicott (1971) says that the true process of self- 

development depends on the subject explaining himself. The search for the Winnicotian 'true - self' is 

self - interpretation. 

One can compare this (the 'chain of interpretations') to the situation in a treatment room. There, too, the 

patient tells his story so that the therapist will interpret it (Geldman, 2006). Anything said any story, has 

to be interpreted, says Lacan (in Vanier, 2003) because these are masks that hide the 'other', 'inner' 

voice, that we have seen in the mirror, or later on in the painting. Hunt (2002) and Phillips (2004) say 

that the process in which the subject tells a story, and later on when the story is interpreted, is a process 

similar to writing an autobiography. From each of these contexts I claim that in this research the 

investigation of the' self' depends on interpretation, creates interpretation, strives for interpretation and 

enables endless interpretations. This is the process of creating a portrait as an image – investigating a 

portrait – creating the portrait of the 'self' 

That is the reason why the research focuses on texts, uses the research method called 'Hermeneutics 

investigation' which was developed by Allen and Jensen (1990) on the basis of the philosophical 

approach of Ricoeur (1981). This form of investigation is constructed of two stages: 1. a structural stage 

that is structured, methodical, linear and paradigmatic. This is the stage of analysis. 2. a contextual 

stage, erected on top of the former one. It is open, creative, has a narrative. This is the stage of 

interpretation, and here I expand the range of analysis and interpretation with an additional aspect, the 

intertextual interpretative approach (see chapter 5 – Methodology). 

Berridge (2008) explains that when a researcher presents "so-called creative doctorate", there is a 

demand to present a display or exhibition with the written, theoretical text. In her research she uses the 

term 'exegesis' and presents three possible models of exegesis. Again, and like in her research, I define 

15

the contents that were formed from the analysis and the hermeneutic process as an exegesis, but unlike 

her research here the two parts appear together when the exegesis appears as an interpretation of the 

text as well as its original meaning. 

In my research, interpretation is not only intended to tell the story that exists in the painting, or hidden in 

it. Here the interpretative process, its existence within, the experience of obtaining meanings, is 

presented as a valued tool on its own. My research differs from Berridge's in that it does not stress, nor 

is it interested in the biographical story. The biographical story is kind of fact for which a way must be 

found, a way to extricate it from the painting. It is mainly the stimulus to the process that is occupied in 

extracting the story, which means that the significance is the producing the story, ways of discovering it 

and creating it. I wish to present a way in which the subject creates materials out of his own being, in a 

unique way, and later continues the creating process while discovering the materials of him, encounters, 

exposes and reconstructs them. This is a process of constructing one's self from given materials 

(Strenger, 1999) (see chapter 11 – Discussion). In this way the 'chain of observations' from which the 

"chain of interpretations" derived expresses in this research the self- investigation that expresses self- 

development and also leads to it. 

The emphasis in my research is on interpretation. That is the reason that I chose the intertextual 

approach (more on this, and the reasons for the choice can be found in chapter 5 – Methodology). 

Intertextuality is both a phenomenon and an interpretative approach (Azulay, 2006). The phenomenon 

itself is found in my research in the 'central unit of analysis' (data A1 (a) – chapter 6) which is also 

defined as the 'Book-Object'; 'Artist- Book; Readymade ; Bricolage (see chapter 6 – The 'Book – 

Object'). As an analysing and interpreting research approach it joins the second side of the hermeneutic 

investigation model here. Combining and incorporating this approach makes it possible to expand the 

interpretation, express the creative character of the research (research based on art), burrow into and 

investigate the text. In my research, the text replaces the man; hence the assumption that just as man 

has a consciousness and a sub consciousness, and is made from the manifest and the concealed, so is 

the text (Kristeva, 1989; Azulay, 2006). This approach enables one to expose the inner, hidden, parts of 

the text while holding a dialogue between the textual, intertextual and interdisciplinary. In this way I 

continue the metaphoric spirit that is typical of this research. Just as the act of painting a portrait is a 

metaphor of the investigation of the 'self' and development, and as the painting itself is a metaphor of 

personal, subconscious contents, so the intertextual interpretative process is a metaphor for 

investigation of the 'self'. Peeling off layers of the text is similar to the psychoanalytic process. Both can 

be compared to an archaeological mound. 

This approach places the interpreter and the interpretation in the centre. The text flirts with its reader 

(Barthes, 2007); the author has died (ibid. and 2005). The text depends on the reader's benevolence 

16

and it will be what the interpreter makes of it. This approach has a psychological origin that states that 

the text and its overt significance are both "suspicious" (Eco, 2007). What is visible is only meant to be a 

trick to hide something else. The reader must take on the role to create significance. The text presents 

itself and searches for a "Model Reader" (ibid.), one that can suggest endless hypotheses and diverse 

significances. The power of the text depends on the strength and ability of the reader. There is no single 

answer and interpretation, there is an open field, and endless as far as reading is concerned (Elkad- 

Lehman, 2006). 

Derrida (2002) says that writing is a replacement of speech. Lacan says that speech was born and 

created at the first encounter with the mirror, as the representative of the 'other self', the sub conscious 

(in Golan, 2002 and in Vanier, 2003). I claim that the renewed encounter of the adult 'ego', the painter, 

with the mirror, produced the painting (a kind of language). 

Following Lacan and his ideas I say that the painting is also the substitute of speech. All these are 

suspect (Derrida, 2002), hence the subject has the role to extricate himself from himself, read the text, 

remove barriers, create interpretations, expose the other voice and join it. The text was created for its 

reader, therefore my role here as researcher is to respond to the text and be in the situation of 

researcher and interpreter. 

Here, in this research, I present two tracks of interpretation, which are also two stages (art and 

qualitative research – 'hermeneutic investigation'), and these can be continued by me or, alternately, by 

others. Each interpretation creates different contents (verbal or visual). That points to an endless 

process that also nourishes itself. This is the post-modern intertextual interpretative. 

Jung (1989, 1993) also sees this as the processes of investigation of the 'self' and mental development 

of the subject. The deduction from this is that self - investigation is self - creation, and vice versa. 

In my research I suggest a method of investigation that is based on known research genres and from 

which it also develops. I have developed this approach for this research, as the emphasis in this 

research is human behaviour which itself represents self investigation (painting a 'self – portrait'). In my 

research I widen the process of self investigation through qualitative research, via the unique 

combination of research and art, and with a research method that emphasises the intertextual 

approach. 

The aim of this research is to find an interpretative way, apply and experience it. The process of 

exposure that occurs via this interpretative approach enables self discovery and is also a metaphor of it. 

The two – stages of the hermeneutic investigation which I combined with the intertextual interpretative 

approach also adds another expression to the combination of art and research, and to the 

characteristics of this combination. It is a combination that contains two forms of thinking – primary and 

secondary (Noy, 1999), rational and intuitive, schematic and creative, paradigmatic and narrative. The 

17

combination of the two fields and the research method presented here shows a way to the investigation 

of the 'self', describes a behavioural model and offers tools. 

The interpretative process does not intend to provide clear cut answers (in fact, there are none) nor give 

explanations. The interpretation gives meaning to existing situations. The interpretation is a rewarding 

process, the reward of which is chiefly in being inside the process, the pleasure that one gets from the 

process of exposure, the hidden meanings. Elkad – Lehman (2006) describes this as magic. I present it 

in my research as a state in which one can see the person and his products as an endless resource for 

research. And the complex and combined investigation presented here can be considered as a healing 

and empowering process. 

To Sum up – My Story 

In this research I show how I experience this process in all its stages and complexities. As a creator / 

researcher I enlist the two disciplines of art and qualitative research and combine them in a unique 

manner with the intention to present a broad and profound way for the investigation of the 'self'. I have 

identified a potential in the phenomenon of painting a self - portrait, and at the same time the question of 

searching for the self – which began in the portrait paintings – grew and became stronger. Thus I found 

myself to be the 'guinea pig' in the process of investigating the 'self', in creating a visual and verbal life 

story, as an additional investigative model in the expanding research genre of Art- based research. 

The assumption is that people tell stories, that people have stories that narrative research focuses on 

life narratives (Shkedi, 2003). Bruner ( ׂ2002) 

says that we need to tell ourselves stories to know who 

we are. Researchers and psychologists claim that man learns about himself through life stories 

construct and reconstruct himself, and about the world. 

I have described the various phenomena that take place in this research as metaphors. I continue by 

saying that through the painting of a self - portrait – the act and the product, and via the interpretative 

processes that exist in this investigation – an attempt has been made to tell a life story as well as to 

create it. This is similar to life stories that the researcher collects via personal interviews. Here I, as a 

subject, interview myself, first via the mirror and later through the interpretative reading of my paintings. 

Gudmundsdottir (1996) says that people use the narrative way as a kind of heuristic tool, a tool to 

observe one's self. It enables us to understand who we are where we are going in our life. 

From this we can deduce that all that was done in this research, intentionally or not, points at a 

therapeutic way. The objective of the research here is to suggest a therapeutic way, not in the sense of 

18

treating the patient but as part of the behaviour of the individual, aimed at the maintenance of the 'self'. 

And the knowledge how to do this is part of culture. I shall sum up with the words of Bruner (2002) who 

says that constructing identity and finding a place in culture can only be done via narrative thinking and 

knowledge. In my research I wish to enable the individual to find his place in his world, and thus show 

him how to find a place in culture. So I created a phenomenon, I created in the phenomenon, and at the 

end of the investigation I created the 'designing ego' 3 as someone who orchestrates it all and is 

victorious in the struggle (see chapter 11 – Discussion). 

To sum up, I will quote Francois Lyotard "Nowadays art is concerned with investigating things, which 

cannot be said and things, which cannot be seen. No one knows what 'language' the human being 

understands, what language he speaks, in what language he should be approached "(2006: 22). With 

respect and pursuant his words, I claim that we can observe the riddle and accordingly there is a reason 

to study and research. 

3 

An innovative term that I coined through the development of the research 

19

Chapter 2: 

META-INTRODUCTION 

OBSERVATION: PANORAMIC VIEW AND POINTS OF VIEW 





2.3.1 The Phenomenological Painter 

2.3.2 Painting a Self-Portrait – Researching the 'Self' 

2.4 A Transitional Object: The Explorative Visual Text and the Multiplication of 

Faces 


Summary 

2.5.1 From Investigating to Investigated Object 

2.5.2 Investigation and Creation: a Meeting of Two Mental Processes 

___________ 


Descartes' saying ‘Cogito, ergo sum’ (I think, therefore I am) made a turning point in the way man 

thought of himself. "The discovery of the subject as a starting point to understanding the world offered a 

new way of looking at human existence" (Biderman, 2003: 120). 

The name of this chapter is ‘Meta-Introduction’ because it deals with the concept of observation itself 

and the way it is applied in this study. The word 'observing' has synonyms such as watching, perceiving, 

investigating, examining. Hence observing is a kind of research. It is like the action of a qualitative 

researcher, who looks at a certain reality with the aim of identifying and understanding it, giving it 

meaning (Shkedi, 2003). In this ‘research’ the observer’s looking is a metaphor for the inner activity 

20

taking place. This study researches research. It constitutes a ‘chain of observations’ 4 ― a sequence of 

different forms of observing which derive from each other and create a circular process of investigating 

investigation, explaining explanation: a work of art that researches as it is being researched. 

This 'chain of observations' has three links or stages, each of which is a different kind of investigation, 

examination or contemplation: 

(a) The encounter between the artist and the mirror ― presents an actual, physical reality which is 

explanatory and discloses this reality to the looker. "The mirror appears because I see and am seen, 

because there exist a reflexivity of the sensual, and the mirror translates and doubles this reflexivity" 

(Merleau-Ponty In kenaan, 2004: 44). 

(b) Artistic activity – produces works of art. It is creative and investigative. It explains the image seen 

in the mirror and documents it. "This is a whispering science" says Rilke of Rodin, "which transfers the 

shapes of things which 'remain secret' into artistic creation" (quoted in Kenaan, 2004: 74). A painting is 

a kind of documentation, which was termed a 'visual and explanatory text' which means that a 

painting explains 'the shape of things' and is explained by them; otherwise they remain secret and 

unknown. 

(c) Investigative activity – researching the paintings ― begins when the artist has completed his 

'artistic activity' and is himself "cast into the role of observer looking at the work of art he has just 

created" (Ehrenzweig, 1967: 80). The painting is separated from its creator and turns from a research 

tool into a research object. There begins an investigative process which aims to interpret a product 

which was mentioned in the previous paragraph was itself explanatory. 


The encounter of artist and mirror is essential and of primary importance. What is the mirror’s role? 

What ideological contexts does it create? 

Bell (2000) in his Five Hundred Self-Portraits points out, ironically, that while he was looking at self- 

portraits at an exhibition he thought the portraits actually told the story of a well-edited mirror (p. 6), and 

that one could not know if the mirror it was passive or active. The mirror is a hollow object that becomes 

real via a reflected subject and turns into an object. Merleau-Ponty says that It is a kind of "Universal 

instrument of magic, which changes things into appearances, and appearances into things" (in Kenaan 

2004: 45). It is a kind of magic where you cannot know who is watching whom, and turns the mirror into 

an object that observes us (Merleau-Ponty, Ibid). 

4 The bolded terms in this chapter are coined by the researcher during developing this research. 

21

The mirror absorbs and empties, alternately exists and disappears. "It reflects the world, but has nothing 

of its own; it does not refuse anything; it changes constantly and nothing is reflected in it permanently" 

(Levi, 1998: 9). Its right to exist lies is in what it reflects. "The mirror needs the world to be reflected in it, 

and at the moment of reflection the world acquires a new meaning and changes accordingly" (p.11). 

"The ghost of the mirror pulls my flesh out, thus the total invisibility of my body can submerge itself in 

other bodies which can see" (Merleau-Ponty in Kenaan, 2004: 45). The mirror appears in "the open 

circle between the seeing body and the body that is seen" (p. 44), and in this way it enables the subject 

to observe himself as another and thus come to know himself. The Cogito of Descartes now obtains 

tangible expression: one can say: “I see myself, therefore I am”. 

Earlier painters said that the mirror gave them a cheap available model for self-portraiture (Chadwick, 

1998, 2001; West, 2004). But a study of self-portraits over the ages shows that the mirror presented the 

artist with an investigative encounter with parts of his hidden personality. Merleau-Ponty, (in Kenaan, 

2004) states "all that is kept from me transfers to this face in the mirror" (p.44). For the artist, the 

physical encounter of the subject with the reality of his being was a source for self exploration in an era 

when people were aware of such things as much as when they were not (West, 2004). 

Mirror reflection also recalls the Narcissus myth. Merleau-Ponty, (in Kenaan, 2004) hints at this 

indirectly when he says "the Mirror is a flat and closed entity and my reflection has made me doubt its 

existence" (p. 44). In a narcissistic manner, "man can look at himself and discern in this image the 

‘other side’ of his ability to see" (p. 36).The investigative method which a mirror reflection makes 

possible furnishes the reflected subject an encounter with his other self, or as Kohut (2005) defines it, 

'the self-object'. Kohut bases his psychology of the self and the theory of narcissism on this term. The 

meeting with one's other self is a way to know and accept oneself. Seeing one’s face, one learns about 

it. 

Lacan (in Vanier, 2003), describes the first encounter with the self as the 'mirror stage', explaining it as 

the stage in early development when we accept, for the first time, some idea about ourselves as a unit 

possessing shape. This significant encounter teaches about ourselves in our surroundings. It is the 

strength of the mirror, an empty vessel, that when it is filled with the image of the subject it "turns me 

into the other and the other into me" (Merleau-Ponty in Kenaan, 2004: 45). 

The reflection in the mirror creates an echo 5 from which philosophers and psychologists derive 

significant aspects of the psychology of the personality (Winnicott, 1971; Vanier, 2003; Kenaan, 2004; 

Kohut 2005; Freud, 2007; Levinas in Schonfeld, 2007). Researchers of art agree: they, too, attribute the 

painting of self-portraits to the narcissistic personality of the artist (Peiper, 1983; Whiteford 1987; 

5 The concept of echo is hinted at in the mythological story of Narcissus. Echo was the nymph that fell 

in love with him and later sought revenge. 

22

Chadwick 1998, 2001; West, 2004). This leads to the questions: what is the difference between self- 

love, self-investigation and self-deprivation. 

The encounter between the subject and his 'other' in the mirror termed as the 'founding encounter'. It 

is the first critical meeting in a series of meetings and paves the way for all the subsequent meetings, 

with their variations of investigation. It is a founding encounter because it makes one’s existence real, 

debatable and researchable, and from this all other actions derive. 

The artist gives the Cartesian 'Cogito' physical and tangible expression, making man aware not only of 

his feelings but also of his being (Werblovsky, 1992). "Man is no longer submerged in the centre of his 

existence but – as the philosopher Plesner says – he is situated in "an excentric position", standing next 

to himself, and therefore creates self-portraits" (quoted in Werblovsky, 1992). Paraphrasing again, one 

can say "I paint, therefore I am". Cezanne reinforces this idea when he says "I think in painting" (quoted 

in Kenaan, 2004: 25). The artist Marchand states, "I paint in order to burst forth” (quoted in Kenaan, 

2004: 43). 

The mirror changes subject into object. "Man, the subject with a capital "S", is not a subject. As soon as 

I have said "I", this subjectivity has turned into an object, the "I" object of the "I" subject. The 

appearance of the subject to himself arouses the urge to investigate. Man wants to know himself 

because – via objectification - the question arises: Who and what am I?" (Werblovsky, 1992). 

Thus the artist is one whose every painting is an act of the self bursting forth. And this starts at the 

encounter with the mirror because the artist is an indefatigable researcher, whose research is a search 

(Merleau-Ponty in Kenaan 2004). 


2.3.1 The Phenomenological Painter 

Merleau-Ponty (in kenaan, 2004) likens the mirror's activity to "pulling at the flesh of the visible and 

baring it: an analogy to this could be that the painter catches what exists between the 'eye and the spirit” 

(Merleau-Ponty, 2004). In his own methods, language and interpretation, a painter is like a mirror. He 

notices what exists, examines and catches it, and thus bares it. But he differs from the mirror in that he 

is an active editor of what he catches. 

The painter is aroused by phenomena and acts to expose the hidden entity submerged in the visible 

signs. He has the unique ability to see what is concealed in the mirror and make it materialise. He is "a 

good example of the ability to exist in the metaphysical depth found between the hidden folds of what 

the eyes see, a depth that abstract thinking finds hard to locate" (Kenaan, 2004: 14). These 

23

characteristics make the painter an investigative philosopher, a phenomenologist (Merleau-Ponty in 

kenaan, 2004). He is a researcher who considers phenomena "miracles, the observing of which makes 

our world meaningful and comprehensible" (Kenaan, 2004: 8). His creations are investigations, that is, 

indefatigable searches as Merleau-Ponty claims. 

The recurring encounter in front of the mirror is an endless research process "an unfinished 

investigation, relit anew from one creation to another" (Lefort in Kenaan, 2004: 25). It is an investigation 

in which the actual act of painting and the product of the act are what provide explanation and meaning 

of the observed phenomena. The artist "attains the ability to recognize the observed, but only via the act 

which makes the observed entity appear on the canvas” (p. 25). 

What the craving to create and the passion to investigate have in common is that "no creation is perfect, 

and most creations still have almost all their life ahead of them" (Merleau-Ponty in kenaan, 2004: 81) 

―an endless process of observation and exposition, an unquenchable thirst. Thus, the 'chain of 

observations' in the present study generates a 'chain of interpretations', since "investigating means 

constant amazement, a search that goes around and around" (Merleau-Ponty in kenaan, 2004: 80). 

The painter’s investigative passion and the manner in which he observes phenomena as a "philosopher 

of wonderment" (Merleau-Ponty in kenaan, 2004) moves between the general and universal, and the 

private and personal. As Geldman (2006) says: "Even when Rembrandt painted his self-portraits he 

submerged in them the complexity and depth of the baroque consciousness of human life, and his 

enormous sensitivity to the pathetic"(p.89). In investigating himself, the artist touches the universal. And 

looking at the world, he observes himself. His paintings are testimony to his constant search and will 

forever be 'self-portraits' because each painting is always a self-portrait (Whiteford, 1987). Self-portraits 

as such are only the tip of an iceberg. 

2.3.2 Painting a Self-Portrait – Researching the 'Self' 

The self-portrait is a unique genre in art both because of the process of its production and its personal 

and investigative character (West, 2004). For other researchers (Schildkraut, 1999: Platzman, 2001: 

Chilvers, 2003) the genre has psychological tendencies. They define self-portraiture in terms of self- 

awareness, identity construction, self-analysis, self-exploration, self-discovery and self-revelation. Basil, 

the painter in Oscar Wilde’s Picture of Dorian Grey, makes the same point: “The painter discovers 

himself on the painted canvas. The reason why I cannot present this picture is that I am afraid I have 

found in it the secret of my soul" (Wilde, 1984: 12). 

The painter’s persistent, investigative search becomes a clear case of self-investigation, using the 

painting of a self-portrait as a modus operandi. One can again paraphrase Descartes' Cogito: ‘I paint a 

24

self-portrait, therefore I investigate myself, and therefore I observe my existence’. This means that we 

replace the unequivocal fact that ‘I paint, therefore I am’, with the idea that ‘I paint, therefore I seek 

some meaning to my existence’. A unique exploration takes place, wherein "the painter connects the I to 

the self, head to body, logic to intuition, the rational to the irrational and the objective to the subjective" 

(Geldman, 2006: 98). This is an investigation which reveals "a mental form till now completely hidden 

from the painting and even from the painter himself" (Geldman, ibid.). 

The 'founding encounter' which was the first stage in the 'chain of observations' has led on to the stage 

of investigation and search, carried out in 'artistic activity'. This second stage is a 'turning point', 

creating a dramatic change in the investigation’s subjects, methods and participants. 

2.4 A Transitional Object: The Explorative Visual Text and the 

Multiplication of Faces 

The second stage of observation ― the stage of 'artistic activity'― creates a 'multiplicity of faces', (as 

was termed in this research).As the study first noted this at the encounter with the mirror which 

"changes me to the other and the other to me" (Merleau-Ponty in Kenaan, 2004: 45). It continues in the 

repeated production of self-portraits, and later in the change of role from creator to investigator. At its 

simplest, the ‘multiplicity of faces’ means a large number of self-portraits showing many faces and 

aspects of one individual. More profoundly, the term means the many different roles played by the 

individual artist, as will be explained further on. 

Producing a painting can be symbolised as an 'act of separation' ― the act that separates the creator 

from his creation and turns each into an independent participant in the research process. The painting is 

the object that enables the researcher to make the transition from subjective painter to objective 

observer, since "what is special about an artistic creation is that it raises the subjective element of the 

creator to an objective level" (Tress-Zukerman, 1990: 27). 

The painting is what creates the separation between creator and observer since "from the moment the 

artist has finished his work, he is nothing but an observer like all other observers" (Tress- Zukerman, 

1990:. 27); "the roles of the painter and visible are reversed" (Merleau-Ponty in kenaan, 2004: 43). We 

can ask – who is watching whom? Not for nothing "have so many artists said that things are watching 

them" (p. 43). This 'turning point' occurs when the investigative tool becomes the subject of 

investigation, and the artist / researcher transforms into a scientific researcher. 

The painting forms a barrier between the act that was and the act that will be, thus serving as a 

'crossroads'. The term 'multiplicity of faces' describes the process whereby the central self (the 

25

creating self investigating itself) changes and splits into different roles and persons. 'A whole divides 

and changes', from being oneself and the other self into a range of other identities, roles and 

appearances ― painter, subject, observer of the subject who is the object, who reflects and is reflected 

simultaneously (Chadwick, 2002). The artist is both painter and sitter (West, 2004), researcher and 

interpreter, artist and scientist (Lorand, 1991), creator and observer (Bell, 2000) and the borders 

between these roles are breached and blurred. "There is a sense of dialogue between the artist as 

observer and the artist as creator. He or she must confront self-interest, self-love, self-evaluation and 

self-knowledge, and bring them all together on paper or canvas" (Sullivan, 1997: 30). 

A 'multiplicity of faces' is also, as was mentioned, a large body of portrait paintings. Each painting is one 

interpretation of the reality perceived at the time of a given encounter in front of the mirror. One 

permanent reality produces numerous extrapolations and these extrapolations this study terms 'visual 

texts' – research products written in the language of art. 

This birth of the researcher/scientist (as distinct from the researcher/artist) is equivalent to the "death of 

the author" (Barthes, 2007). The birth of the researcher has killed the author. The text written in the 

language of art, an autonomic and enigmatic entity, now separates creator from researcher. As the 

post-structuralist school claims, the painting that was defined as text disconnects itself from its creator 

(Derrida, 2002; Barthes, 2007). The author disappears from the critical discourse to be replaced by the 

reader. The author vacates the centre, to be replaced by the text, detached from its creator and open to 

any kind of subjective interpretation. 

The 'turning point' that was the 'act of separation', has created a new centre. The 'self' that had been in 

the centre has been replaced by the text, which now becomes the focus of the discourse, hiding the 

story of the 'self'. The new situation raises new questions and leads on to the next and third stage of 

observation, which is the 'investigative activity'. This is the stage which this research study was 

designed to reach and on which it wishes to focus. 

This third stage in the research trajectory exposes a gap which the current study wishes to fill. The text 

being written in a visual, non-verbal language, it carries hidden messages, a visible phenomenon hiding 

other issues among its forms and signs. The form of the text as such raises the problem with which this 

research wishes to contend – how to explain and interpret a text in such a complex situation? It will be 

the task of this research study to deal with this complexity, set out the problems that emerge from it and 

suggest a solution to them. 

26


2.5.1 From Investigating to Investigated Object 

The highpoint of this dual investigative process comes when it is presented with a visual text, the 

painting, to be decoded and explained. The study asks: What enables the painting to be a research 

object? How can one investigate it? 

At first it looks as if It is a deceptive phenomenon in front of us. A revelation that conceals within itself 

concealment. According to Merleau-Ponty a painting is a potential that has materialised. The painting 

uncovers the hidden potentialities of reality (Lorand, 1991) and reveals what is present in the 'thick of 

things' (Merleau-Ponty in Kenaan, 2004). Representing a given reality, the painting explains it. Yet, for 

all the explanation, the text is still sealed. In Basil’s words, "I frequently imagine that a work of art hides 

the artist much more than it reveals him" (Wilde 1984: 104). 

Lacan (in Golan, 2002 and in Vanier, 2003) explains that by its very presence a painting points at what it 

hides. He continues Freud's idea that the painting emerges to replace something else – it comes out of 

something absent, fills a lacuna and - at the same time – points to it. What is seen and discovered is not 

the real message, it is only a representation of the message, and at the same time it conceals it. 

Merleau-Ponty, as a philosopher, states "the drawing and the painting do not belong to the thing itself. 

They are the inner part of the outside, and the outer part of the inside. This is possible because the 

feeling is two-fold. Thus the painting offers its inner layers to our view, the so-called ‘fabric of the real’" 

(in Kenaan, 2004: 38). 

According to Lacan, the greatness of a painting lies in its pointing at a story. It says that there exists a 

story you have not heard, but does not tell the story. That is why several researchers (Launger, 1976; 

Storr, 1983; Lorand, 1991; Ne'eman and Bartal 1999; Noy, 1999; Cohen, 2005; Lahad, 2006; Vardi, 

2007) have defined a painting as a metaphor and symbol, concealing within itself contents and 

messages. Golan (2002) explains that Lacan perceives metaphors as "saying something in a different 

manner, but adding a new dimension…: the comprehensible appears from the incomprehensible, and 

what remains an unintelligible peek out of the metaphor as an object” (p.142). Lacan defines a painting 

as 'a curtain hiding beauty' (in Golan, 2002). 

The creative process has taken place earlier, before the painting became 'a curtain hiding beauty'. 

Creativity used the language of art to weave subconscious thoughts, ideas, messages and contents into 

an edited and structured visual texture (Lorand, 1991; Noy, 1999). These thoughts, ideas, messages 

are loaded onto the new metaphor, visible but also hidden. An investigative process has taken place, 

resulting in a new reality (the painting), one which obviously now demands further inquiry. 

27

The language of the painting is the language of art, a language that serves as traffic signs on a road 

map. The painting fixes its messages in its unique language, one that offers signs which allow one to 

expose the messages. The signs lie "in the depth of the visible" (Kenaan, 2004: 10). They are the 

'artistic means' from which the language of art is composed ― style, genre, image and visual values 

(ibid.). 

At this point, the role of investigation is to provide an instrument to decipher this ‘map’ and expose ‘the 

story of the painting’, the story of the painting’s original self-investigation. Just as the first investigative 

process (the artistic activity) used the language of art as its research instrument, the task of this second 

investigation will be to fashion the tools to decipher the meanings that this artistic language holds. In 

other words, the visual has to be ‘translated’ into the verbal. An intermediate language is needed, a 

language that was termed ‘a bridging language'. 

2.5.2 Investigation and Creation: a Meeting of Two Mental Processes 

The study emphasised that creative art is a kind of investigation or research. Here the study wish to add 

that research is a kind of creation. Both are creative processes because the artist and the researcher 

have similar characteristics (Lorand, 1991; Storr, 1991; Shoshani, 2002). Even when their objectives 

and means of expression are different, both "organise mental data according to new and unconventional 

categories … view known phenomena from new angles, discover data in phenomena that others have 

ignored, or use familiar means of expression in an original manner" (Noy, 1999: 224). Constructing a 

painting is, therefore, like analysing and allotting significance because the "good interpretation of a work 

of art … is a creative process in its own right" (Levi, 1986: 130). 

the research also want to claim that the interpretation of the finished self-portrait is also a process of 

self-investigation. In other words, painting a self-portrait is only the first self-investigation in this study. 

Campbell (2002), drawing on the theory of Ricoeur (1991), compares an interpretative reading process 

to psychoanalysis. The interpreter brings untold stories to the text, interpretation makes it possible for 

these stories to be told, and as they are constructed and create new meanings, the interpreter is 

constructed with them. Each and every interpretative reading of the text leads to new meanings, 

meanings till now only a potentiality. "As the interpreter creates meaning that causes the text to change, 

so does a change occur in himself" (Campbell, 2002: 210). 

The creative process features mental mechanisms that combine primary and secondary thought 

processes which work together simultaneously (Noy, 1999, 2006). 

28

Primary thought processes exert a decisive and dominant impact on the creative process. They are 

responsible for spatial and temporal relations, the analysis of non-verbal information, emotional 

communication, attention to shapes and gestalten, symmetry, intuitiveness, spontaneity, sensitivity and 

imagination. Secondary thought processes have to produce and understand language, continuity, 

directions, attention to detail, structured thinking, logic, a linearity based on structures, context and 

information (Noy, 1999). These combine with the primary thought processes and assist in organising 

information and combining it into a painting. 

Interpreting the finished self-portrait also combines the two thought processes. But in this stage the 

secondary processes, characterised by logic and conscious and deliberate thinking, will be dominant, 

enabling the subject to act scientifically, in a structured and conscious manner. Lefort ( in Kenaan, 

2004) says: "Philosophy itself can and must pave the way by embracing the riddle that haunts the 

painter, by linking consciousness with creation in the space of the work of art, by seeing in words… "(p. 

26). An interpretive hermeneutic reading is itself original, unique and creative. The 'investigative activity' 

has to come up with a means to decode the text born out of the first self-investigation, so that we can 

reach a verbal explanation, rich and profound, which will tell the story of the painting in words. 

This third stage closes the circle of investigation. In illuminating an individual phenomenon it returns to 

universality equipped with new understandings obtained from the creative individual's singular point of 

view. 

Summary 

This 'Meta-Introduction' describes in the third person and in abstract terms the 'chain of observations' 

which structures this research. It has described different forms of observation and a researcher who 

carries out his investigation by changing roles, crossing the border-line between researcher and creator. 

A subject standing at the centre of the investigation vacates his place to the text he has produced. 

Psychological self-inquiry becomes self-study, which shifts between a number of disciplines and mental 

channels. 

The next chapter will deal with the research itself, presenting the main research issue, the questions 

relating to the investigation and how it is conducted. In the spirit of the transitions typical of this 

investigation, the writing will now continue in the first person singular, and thus strengthen and underline 

the character of this investigation, that of self-investigation. 

29



Chapter 3: 

DESIGNING THE RESEARCH 


3.2.1 Research Subject and Research Question 

3.2.2 Development of the Research Question 



3.4.1 The Researcher 

3.4.2 The Circle of Subjectivity 

3.4.3 The Research Object 


Summary 

____________ 


In this chapter I descend to earth from the panoramic view of the last chapter and present my research 

in more tangible terms. I set out the subject of the study, its environment, participants, tools, objectives 

and limits. 

When Foucault (2005) asks the question "What is a writer?" he asks, among other things, what kind of 

presence does the writer have as a subject in the text and what role he fills there. "How, and according 

to what conditions and forms can something like a subject appear in a discourse?" (p. 59). This is the 

question a qualitative researcher has to deal with in writing his thesis. 

30

I have chosen an approach that allows the researcher to make his voice clearly heard. This approach ― 

typical of qualitative research ― states that the researcher’s presence fulfils a role in the text he 

presents, and that he is expected to explain his affinity to and responsibility for what he writes (Shlasky 

and Alpert, 2007). Whereas the positivist researcher presents his research from afar, without a personal 

touch, qualitative research displays a "transition from a neutral and distanced style to a more personal 

one, from talking in the third person to talking in the first person" (ibid. p. 200). Not only is the researcher 

not hiding behind the passive voice or third person in this manner of writing, but on the contrary, he 

deliberately expresses a point of view or a personal experience and attitude towards the object of his 

research. So a personal style of writing is both permissible and required. 

Some of the research genres involved in this research, including 'action research' and 'self-study 

research' deal with the declaredly personal and the researcher who looks inside himself (Shlasky and 

Alpert, 2007). These genres strengthen my argument to let my voice as a researcher is heard in the first 

person. Moreover, there is a direct connection with autobiography in that the focus of the study is self- 

portraits (West, 2004). I consider writing in the first person and making heard my own voice a natural 

and integral part of this research. 

The key to my study is that it is unique and personal and this is what may make it universal (according 

to Regev, in Shlasky and Alpert, 2007). The concept of narcissism (see Meta-Introduction) is pertinent 

to this study in many ways and Laughlin (1995) wishes to release the writer of narcissistic tendencies 

from feelings of guilt. She argues that the researcher's fear of writing in the first person originates in the 

values of self-sacrifice, self-negation and altruism, which are considered contradictory to narcissism. 

She counters that the qualitative researcher should let his voice be heard without fear, since it is interest 

in oneself that contributes to the understanding of the other. She posits the hypothesis that Narcissus's 

tragedy was actually in not being narcissistic enough: "Had he been a bit more self-reflexive he might 

have moved beyond mere awareness of himself as other and progressed to an awareness of being self- 

aware of himself as other" (Steier, (1991) cited in Laughlin, 1995: 7). Lacan (in Vanier, 2003), Levinas 

(in Schonfeld, 2007) and Kohut (2005) all claim, each in his own way, that the encounter with the 'other 

self' and its importance for our attitude to our fellow man are of central significance. 

One of the characteristics on which this research is based is that of transitions or passageways which 

follow the 'turning point'. The passageways describe inter alias the points of entrance and exit in my 

research. On the basis of the same approach my voice as a researcher and writer will also move and 

change. The Meta-Introduction ( see chapter 2 and the chapters of findings and interpretations ( 6, 7, 8, 

9,10) will introduce the third person as someone who observes from above and from afar. The 

discussion will also be presented in the third person as an echo of the Meta-Introduction, while the 

conclusions will return to the first person. 

31


3.2.1 Research Subject and Research Question 

The subjects of this research are the self-portrait and the 'self'. In art, the self-portrait is conceived as a 

genre of its own. In the era of modernism, self-portrait painting is considered, more than any other kind 

of art, an instance where artists "are investigating their inner life rather than playing out social or artistic 

roles, or referring to specific events of the moment" (West, 2004: 180). Sullivan (1997) cites the 

expressionist artist Max Beckmann: "As we still do not know what this 'self' really is, this 'self' in which 

you and I in our various ways are expressed, we must peer deeper and deeper into its discovery. For 

the 'self' is the great veiled mystery of the world ….What are you? What am I? Those are the questions 

that constantly persecute and torment me and perhaps also play some part in my art" (p. 17) The 

Expressionist school, as a whole, reinforces my choice of research subject by declaring that the 'self' is 

the most important thing and citing a number of artists who worked intensely and obsessively 

investigating their private world painting self-portraits (Whiteford, 1987: Lynton, 1993). 

The elements of portraiture and 'self' reach great intensity in this study because it is about me as an 

artist who paints self-portraits as part of a research process. In the 'artistic activity' I am the one that 

being investigated, after which the produced portrait becomes the researched object, with myself as 

researcher and I conduct 'Self-study research' in order to elucidate it. This indicates the complexity of 

my research task and my research question is a response to this complexity: ‘How can the 

phenomenon of an individual painting a self-portrait create both a body of unique knowledge, 

serve as a source for the construction of meaning and furnish a means to self-development? 

Thus, the core of my study is research into the artistic research process, with me taking the roles of 

creator-researcher and researcher-creator. 

3.2.2 Development of the Research Question 

I have painted self-portraits and focused on this genre over a long period. My strong personal interest in 

the genre, together with the experience and knowledge I have acquired, made me understand that there 

is something of interest here, something to investigate. The need for investigation and interpretation 

also arises when there is a feeling of displeasure and ambiguity (Lorand 1991; Shkedi, 2003; Shlasky 

and Alpert, 2007). I too have felt displeasure at things which remained closed and secret. 

Out of the familiar genre of self-portraiture I have defined my own, private sub-genre, in which I paint a 

self-portrait not only as an artist but – and chiefly ― for the sake of research. 

I defined three main boundaries in order to conduct the research: 

1. Painting self- portrait always and only in front of the mirror; 

32

2. Keeping doing this consistently over a long period; 

3. Always working in same surrounding – my Studio. 

I use my 'artistic activity' to investigate the psychological 'self' by carrying out 'Self-study research'. I 

both produce and decode self-portraits; following a process I term a 'chain of observations'. 

This has created a connection between two disciplines, art and research. My starting premises were as 

follows: 

• Creative art is in itself a process of research. 

• Creative art entails investigation of the 'self'. 

• Painting self-portraits is a psychological process of self-investigation and self-discovery. 

• The language of art has the unique ability to absorb and give out inner, personal and hidden 

information. 

• This absorbed information is concealed among the symbols and forms the language of art uses. 

From the above one can see that the creative process is also a research process conducted in a unique 

language, the result of which is visual knowledge that contains information about the 'self'. My study 

researches this dual process of artistic production and self-investigation. 

Underlying my research study is the Socratic question – Who am I? The process of producing self- 

portraits is an attempt to answer this query. The artist's question and the action he undertakes to 

answer it are the reason for conducting this research but not the research question itself. The task of 

this research is to find ways to penetrate to the contents of the self-portraits, which appear to be 

exposed to view and yet are hidden. I wish to devise and proffer a way to decode and bare these 

contents and so construct meaning. In one sentence, the task of this research study is to produce a tool 

which will facilitate the decoding of what is hidden in the self-portraits paintings. 

I have constructed a complicated, multi-phased path for this investigation. I will have to cope with the 

complexity of my two-fold role as researcher and artist, and with a 'foreign language' (art). The 

challenge is to invent a way in which I, as artist, will be able to observe my products from the point of 

view of researcher. I have to manufacture tools that will make it possible to decode and explain my 

products and convert visual into verbal knowledge. This knowledge is the added value that this study is 

designed to produce. 

33


The disciplines with which this research interfaces because of its content are art, psychology, and 

philosophy and research methodology. 

• Art: The genre (self-portrait), the activity (painting self- portraits), the language of art, art as 

therapy. 

• Psychology: The psychological 'self', aspects of therapy in art. 

• Philosophy: The philosophical self, man, the text, research methods. 

• Research: Art as research, the investigative self, the creative self, ways and methods in 

• 

research. 

The following diagram describes the disciplines and their points of intersection: 

34

Diagram 1: The Disciplines involved in this Research Study and their Points of 

Painting & Drawing 

Activity 

Style & genre 

Language 

Tool 

Investigation 

Mental process 

Creative process 

Intersection 

Research 

& 

Investigation 

Self- study 

Investigation of the 

self 

An artist as researcher 

Researcher as an artist 

Approaches 

Methods 

Tool and product 

A portrait of 

the Self- 

Decoding 

visual text 

The ego & the self 

The self 

Narcissism 

Integration 

Art & Therapy 

Mechanism of cognition 

Autobiography 

Interpretation 

Psychology 

35 

Texts 

Subject object 

The human self 

Meaning Construction 

Hermeneutics 

Intertextuality 

Philosophy


3.4.1 The Researcher 

By the participants in the research I mean the transformations of role I undergo myself. I am both 

creator and researcher, and more. In the Meta-Introduction I coined the phrase 'multiplicity of faces' or 

'a whole that divides and changes'. I wish to describe this here concretely. 

(a) Art as Research 

I wish to argue that artist and researcher are one entity because of their common characteristics. But 

first I will open with a short discussion to show how art is also a form of research, which on the one hand 

does research and on the other hand needs – at times – research as a tool. 

Merleau-Ponty (in Kenaan, 2004) presents the artist as a philosopher / phenomenologist who sees the 

concealed in the visible. The combination of the artist's ability to see and the power of his painting turn 

artistic work into an untiring process of inquiry and a constant search. To work in art is like working in 

science. In both, "a process of examining, testing, and study of the different parts of the totality 'takes 

place', so that it can be better understood and its hidden possibilities brought to light" (Shoshani, 2002: 

75). Unlike the philosopher who seeks the general in the single, the artist "through the single and 

successful example, represents all the single cases that have the same general and essential nature" 

(p. 40). Art represents a type of search which is both private and unique, an investigation of the inner 

self. 

Art and science both aspire to achieve unity. Jung (1989, 1993,) defines this aspiration as the need for 

psychic integration. In art "the whole is completely dismantled and rebuilt, attempting to let the whole be 

discovered anew every time" (Shoshani, 2002: 76). Jung (1989) explains that this is also the structure of 

the mental development process which leads to growth, self- discovery and mental consolidation. 

McNiff (1998) claims that the act of creating is itself a research process. Not only are the creator's 

approach and motivation the same as the researcher's, but the act of creating itself is systematic, 

experiential, gradual, structured, and - at the end of the process –shows a result. In his opinion, art is a 

research discipline. 

Dallow (2003) too emphasises that the process of making art is a kind of research methodology in itself. 

However, when the artist/researcher decides to undertake a research study, he has to declare this and 

take all the steps to indicate that what he is doing is, indeed, research. He has to declare his research 

objective and operate as a researcher. Dallow stresses this, saying that, even if the artist discovers 

something as a consequence of his creative work, as long as his work has not been defined as a 

research process, the result will not be viewed as a research outcome. Dallow indicates several 

possibilities for Art- based research; an artist or a researcher can research a work of art, research 

36

through a work of art, about a work of art or with a work. Dallow differentiates between a creative artist 

whose daily work is creating and a creative artist who sets out to do research. 

I agree with Dallow. Art, even as a form of inquiry, can be assisted by the discipline of research. 

I consider the discipline of research to be content-less tool which can be applied to any kind of content, 

to set up a research question and construct knowledge and meaning. In my self-portraits, too, I need 

scientific research to produce meanings which, I see it as one of the possibilities to yield a unique 

knowledge. That is why I describe my thesis as a 'chain of observations' – one form of investigation 

leads into the next. 

(b) The One that is Both 'Ego' and 'Self' 

So, the artist and the researcher are two of the participants in my research study. The multiplicity of my 

roles can also be expressed psychologically – by differentiating between 'ego' and the 'self'. 

The 'ego' is the ‘I’, the conscious part of the human mind, responsible for conscious, intentional and 

external activity. The 'self' touches upon inner and subconscious parts of the psyche (Freud, 1988; 

Storr, 1998; Noy, 1991; Storr, 1991; Jung, 1993; Noy, 2006). In this research is wished to represent 

both: the conscious 'ego' which directs and acts in the outer world, and the 'self' that acts 

subconsciously in the inner world. As participants in the research, 'ego' and 'self' hold an incessant 

dialogue in which one penetrates the other, they act alternately, separately or together. In this 

investigation, roles, forces and centres of gravity change continuously according to the characteristics of 

each stage in the research. The 'self' is dominant in the study's first stage, 'artistic activity', and the 'ego' 

assists it. This situation changes in the second stage, in the 'investigative- activity', when the 'ego' 

becomes dominant and the 'self' assists it. 

The following diagram represents the researcher as creator, 'ego' and 'self' engaged in both creating 

and researching, all of them moving on the axis of the search for significance. 

37

Diagram 2: The Search for Significance – The Creator as Researcher 

A 

C 

T 

I 

O 

N 

Creator 

(Artist) 

Art and 

creativity 

3.4.2 The Circle of Subjectivity 

As this research starts with me as both researcher and researched, and continues with me as the 

researcher researching his own products, I define it as a 'circle of subjectivity'. Despite this, it is my aim 

to show how I can conduct this study with reliability and contribute to current knowledge. 

I would map the phases this 'circle of subjectivity' and its contacts with objectivity as follows: 

1. Subject observes an object which is a subject – 'ego' facing the mirror – 'ego' and the 

'other- self'. 

Search for Significance 

Me 

('Ego' and 'Self') 

2. Subject investigates subject – I paint myself. 

Search for Significance 

Product 

Self - portrait 

38 

Investigator 

Research 

A 

C 

T 

I 

O 

N

3. Subject investigates object (filled with subjective contents) – I investigate the Painting that 

contains personal materials about me. 

4. Object investigates object – I am separated from the work of art and investigate it. 

5. Subject interprets and creates an object, i.e., the researcher’s interpretation of his self-portrait. 

It seems that objectivity and subjectivity merge continuously. Yet I shall point out places where a kind of 

objectivity breaks through this 'circle of subjectivity'. The finished work of art is one such ‘place’. The 

painting is both object and symbol. Creating the symbol generates a “physical distance” between the 

artist and the work of art (Launger, 1976), and "when the physical distance has been achieved the 

content puts on a symbolic attire and, as such, requests insight and refrains from asking for an 

emotional reaction" (Storr, 1991: 163). This is a situation where 'ego' observes 'self'. The subjective 

feeling is replaced by objective insight so that I, as creator, become an observer like anyone else and 

the work of art has become "a complete, healthy and independent work, which from the moment it has 

seen the light was cut off from the umbilical cord of the artist" (Lorand, 1991: 111). 

At any given stage in this 'chain of observations' 'ego' or 'self', objectivity or subjectivity, play the lead 

role. I claim that my research is basically subjective but that at the same time there are always objective 

currents. Sometimes their voices are lowered, sometimes raised. It is my role to identify them, point out 

their different levels, distinguish them when necessary and act accordingly. 

Just as qualitative research recognises the integration of subjective and objective, so it is when we 

execute an explanatory reading of a work of art. The process of observation of the work of art and its 

investigation "needs a many-faced judgment: half of it based on logic and half on intuition and emotion 

because the birth of art is in emotion" (Tress-Zuckerman, 1990: 30). 

Diagram 3 schematises the various roles I take in this research study. 

39

Diagram 3: The Artist-Researcher, 'Ego' and 'Self', Stages of Inquiry and the Methodological Gap to be Filled 

Investigator 

Action 

Investigative 

activity - 

Research 

Tools and 

Methods 

Ego 

Objective 

Ego & self- 

A portrait 

Searching for 

construction and 

significance 

Objective product- 

Self-portrait 

paintings 

P 

O 

R 

T 

R 

A 

I 

T 

40 

Self 

Product 

Subjective 


Construction 

Creator 

( artist) 

Action 

Artistic 

Activity- 

Painting 

Self- portraits

3.4.3 The Research Object 

In painting self-portraits I invested my 'contents' in a 'container' that over time became an object which, 

like I as researcher, was multi-faced. We might say that it is an object containing subjective materials. I, 

as researcher, have removed myself from the centre and my place is taken by the object which is now 

the subject of the investigation. Sartre (in Brinker, 1992) draws a distinction between two kinds of 

existence – "an entity by itself" and "an entity for itself". "An entity by itself" is the entity of things and the 

inanimate parts of the world. "They are not conscious of their existence, therefore they cannot change 

unless some factor comes from outside and changes them […] they cannot relate to themselves or ask 

a question about their existence" (p.57). This is how I see paintings, as products, as created objects. A 

painting is a thing by itself, stable and immutable, therefore – in my opinion – researchable under all 

conditions, including by its own creator. 

"An entity for itself" is one that "is capable of taking distance from itself, is aware of its existence and 

can ask questions about this existence. This entity is often aware of the possibility of changes in its 

situation as a result of the actions of outer factors, and as a result of its self-understanding "(Sartre in 

Brinker, 1992: 57-58). I, as "an entity for itself", can face myself or the work of art I have created and 

investigate it. As long as the object and the process of its making were my research tools, they were 

part of me and a means to observing me. I could knowingly or unknowingly influence them and the way 

they were formed. The finished work, however, is an independent object, an object to be researched. 

(a) The Painting as Visual Text and Research Crossroads 

The product generated by the 'artistic activity' is, as noted, a kind of container holding my inner world. 

Schaverien (1995) explains that it holds two sorts of knowledge, the sort “that occurs through action and 

the sort that occurs while examining the object which grew out of the action" (p.97). Lorand (1991) says 

that "Art is a means to investigate the truth (like philosophy) and is an object for scientific research like 

any other human phenomenon" (p.40). This means that the language of art, by means of which an 

object is created, enables the production of knowledge, and produces an object that contains this 

knowledge. In other words, the language of art is a research language that produces a research object. 

I have defined this object (see Meta-Introduction) as a 'visual and interpretative text' – it interprets 

and is open to interpretation. 

In this research I view the finished product as a text by virtue of the fact that it has writing and language 

– the language of art, the symbols of which are formative, material and tangible. We could say that this 

text is written in an unknown language, which by itself invites research and interpretation. The painting 

is as Lacan says 'a curtain that hides beauty' (in Golan, 2002). The beauty is the story and the meaning 

41

that the interpreters seek to reveal. The observer, researcher, and interpreter are invited to make an 

alchemistic effort to translate the visual components into the language of words and theory (Vardi, 

2004). 

Ehrenzweig (1967) explains that ‘seeing’ a painting combines two kinds of perception, 'surface' 

perception and 'deep' perception. Surface perception is overt, subject to the rules of form, conscious 

and represents the tangible painting, arranged and constructed according to the conscious decisions of 

the artist. The resultant structures constitute a kind of net that prevents any other input / data from 

reaching consciousness. This description, I think, indicates that surface perception is dominated by 

secondary mental processes. Deep perception is coded, mostly subconscious and free and organises 

material in differently to the surface perception. This indicates that the primary mental processes are 

dominant, according to Noy's (1999) theory. As Barthes (2007) says, the Post-modernist era and Post- 

structuralist conceptions consider a text to be separated from its composer. As such, it is ready for 

every reader's explanatory reading. Later on I will argue that – as Intertextualism would claim – the 

reader is the one that enlivens the text (Kristeva, 1989; Azulay, 2006). We can say of all the works of art 

in the world that "their whole life is still ahead of them ….each creation changes, influences, illustrates, 

deepens, confirms, praises, re-creates or pre-creates all the other creations" (Merleau-Ponty in Kenaan, 

2004: 81). 

This text and research object forms the 'crossroads' of the research study. The research object now 

stands in the middle between two methods of inquiry― the method of 'artistic activity', of which it is the 

result, and the method of 'investigative activity', which will bring ―as yet unknown― results. It stands 

between the method that constructed it and the method that will take it apart. It has a past and faces a 

future and its further existence depends on it being researched. Its future depends on the product that 

will emerge from this research and the final line that research will close the research circle. 

From what we have learned till now the object’s profile is as follows: It is ― 

• A painted self-portrait – the specific product of a specified 'artistic activity'. 

• An interpretative product – as a result of investigative 'artistic activity'. 

• An interpretative product – because it is formed in the language of art. 

• A container – loaded with subjective contents. 

• A visual text – its content written in the language of art. 

Here is where I face a gap in knowledge, the missing link needed to be completed in the research 

process. This gap seeks for coding, followed by the question 'How' which will then raise the question 

42

'What' is the methodology needed to interpret the research object (that is, take the portrait apart and 

analyse it). Developing this methodology will be part of this study’s contribution to knowledge. I claim, 

and this is what directed me in developing the methodology for this study, that if we wish to deconstruct 

the object we must first understand how it was constructed. 


If the first stage of this study had at its disposal a research tool ('artistic activity'), the second stage 

('investigative activity') lacks a tool and this prevents completion. 

Diagram 4 schematises the research circle my study follows, emphasising the gap which the study is 

designed to fill. 

Diagram 4: The Research Circle and the Methodological Gap (in white) to be Filled 

Inquiry II 

Research 

activity 

Answer 

Interpretations 

& 

constructions 

? 

Visual text 

(To be 

interpreted) 

The 

Research 

Circle 

43 

Starting 

question:- 

" Who am I"? 


I 

The product- 

Self portraits 

Inquiry I 

''Artistic 

activity 

Painting selfportrait

The research question arises from this gap in methodological knowledge. The missing link in the study’s 

'chain of observations' is to decipher the "story" and meaning of the visual text (portrait). Therefore the 

course of the research can be summarised as: 

1. Creating a body of knowledge via 'artistic activity'. 

2. Extricating the acquired knowledge via investigation. 

3. Using the unlocked knowledge to create another body of knowledge, new and more complex― 

the missing methodology. 

The research question asks how a researcher can investigate and unlock his own creation, and do so 

such that accepted research criteria will admit it as a proper way of processing and analysing research 

data. Thus my main research question is― 

How can the phenomenon of an individual painting a self-portrait create both a body of unique 

knowledge, serve as a source for the construction of meaning and as a means to self- 

development? 

At this point I have little idea what form this methodology will take. I suggest that it will make use of both 

primary and secondary mental processes (Noy, 1999), and will be in the service of both the 'ego' and 

the 'self'. The conscious ego, together with the secondary mental process, will be dominant in analysing 

the self-portrait. Together with the primary mental processes, it will interpret and create an interpreted 

product, something new. 

Summary 

This chapter sets out the research, its goals, participants and research question. I present a number of 

issues which could be points of weakness and explain how I propose to deal with them. I touch on the 

relationship between art and research and mention the fields of knowledge this study draws on. 

I discuss the key issue of research into the 'self' and show how my centrality changes and, in 

consequence, my role as researcher and research subject. The familiar genre of the self-portrait I recast 

as a research approach and research tool which I term a 'chain of observations'. 

I argue that the self-portrait is a phenomenon which needs to be researched. To my eyes the self- 

portrait is the start of a process of self-investigation and I find that linking creation and research allows 

me to expand and complete the quest of searching the 'self'. I construct a three-stage research design 

containing a gap from which the research question emerges. The research question in its turn directs 

me to a research methodology which will allow me to complete all links in the research chain. 

This chapter explains how a research study defined as investigating the 'self' can research objects 

which are self-representations. 

44


4.1 Origins 

4.2 Form 

4.1.1 Sources of the Language 

4.1.2 Language of the Soul and the 'Self' 

Chapter 4: 

THE LANGUAGE OF ART 

4.1.3 The Language of Art as a Tool for Phrasing and Expressing 

4.2.1 Revealing and Concealing: Metaphor and Symbol 

4.2.2 Means and Components 

4.2.3 Single, Primary Artistic Means: Visual Values 

4.2.4 Consolidated Secondary Artistic Means: Image, Genre and Style 


Summary 

4.3.1 The Language of Art: Interpreting and having to be interpreted 

4.3.2 The Language of Art as Therapy and Autobiography 

_______________ 

4.1 Origins 

4.1.1 Sources of the Language 

The Freudian school (1988) considers artistic activity to be a sublimation of unconscious instincts. Noy 

(2006) considers the creative drive to be a combination of two kinds of pleasure: "…partial, complete or 

indirect satisfaction of the instinctive wishes, and the pleasure components that are involved with the 

ability to control and restrain. The differences between one type of art and another are in the relative 

dosages of the various components" (p.123). 

I wish to claim, metaphorically, that the language of art, with its signs and shapes, serves as a ladder 

enabling the mind's contents to climb from the subconscious up to the conscious part of our thinking. 

The language of art has a unique power. It "uncovers what is hidden in man's soul […] and bares not 

45

only hidden faces in his soul, but throws light on dark corners of the collective consciousness that rules 

our lives (Abraham, 1989: 3). The thinking mechanism of creativity (Noy, 1999) activates two mental 

tracks, the one concerned with the contents of the mind and the other organising these mental contents 

into visual contents ― a picture, in which inner mental and intuitive activities are translated and 

organised with the help of colours, materials and forms (Lorand, 1991). Together and interdependently, 

the contents of the mind and the language of art create a unit that has content and shape. Kandinsky 

(1984) claims that the language of art has an 'Inner compulsion' and a presence of its own. It is an 

objective language that only the individual, with his inner world and the culture it represents, can 

generate and so give meaning to. 

What is there in the language of art that enables hidden mental contents to surface? What is its special 

ability to penetrate to these contents? Psychologists and art researchers claim that the use of the 

language of art enables man to approach his subconscious (Dalley, 1995). "One cannot forever express 

emotional experiences by words. Thinking and talking may interfere with an attempt to bond to feelings" 

(Sunderland and Engleheart, 1993: 13). "Paintings can assist people to 'see' what they cannot express 

in words because they are free from the limitations of logical thought and narrow language" (p. 14). The 

uniqueness of the artistic symbol is that "it expresses an inner life, the contents of which we cannot 

express in any way but through these special symbols" (Lorand, 1991: 119). Stresses Cezanne: "There 

is logic in colours and only in colours – the artist must not obey anything else - not the mind’s logic 

(quoted in Cameron, 1997: 142). Degas agrees: "An artist paints well only when he does not know what 

he is doing" (p. 176). This ignorance is subconscious knowledge. 

The language of art removes the supervising eye of the superego (Freud, 1988) and creates an opening 

through which hitherto hidden, even forbidden, contents can penetrate. It serves as a bridge for 

subconscious ideas to become conscious (Storr, 1991, 1998; Dalley, 1995). The uniqueness of the 

artistic symbol is tied to the uniqueness of the experience in which the symbolised emotion raises. 

It expresses "an inner life, the contents of which we cannot transfer nor express, except through such 

special symbols" (Lorand, 1991: 119). 

The language of art is a 'different' form of speech, and its words are signs and shapes. These tangible 

signs are defined by Storr (1991) as symbols that create a kind of remoteness. The creator is distanced 

from himself and this makes subconscious release possible. At the same time, the symbols serve as 

containers for the released contents. Thoughts and emotions are thus translated into concrete, visual 

signs (Launger, 1976; Noy, 1999). This double action I term a net that entraps and holds mental 

contents. 

Using this language to construct a painting is a conscious action, a form of working via secondary 

mental processes which enables primary mental processes to materialise. "It is a conscious process 

46

that grants a tangible shape to feelings, which in most cases are subconscious" (Dalley, 1995: 6). The 

visual, tangible and real product which we observe has ascended from the depth of the soul and carries 

a story. The language of art is, therefore, a language that tells the story of the soul and of the 'self'. 

The language of art produces a special kind of knowledge which is defined by Eisner (1985) as 

'aesthetic modes of knowledge'. This is a type of meaningful, experiential world view" (Schonmann, 

2002: 559). 

4.1.2 Language of the Soul and the 'Self' 

"Every work of art is a construction work on the site of the soul" (Cohen, 2005: 50). The language of art 

arouses the story of the soul (or, alternatively, the story invited the language) and contains it in its 

shapes, as if revealing and concealing it at one and the same time. From this, the idea has arisen that 

the encounter between the mind and creation has healing value. Aristotle (384-322 BC) attributed to art 

the vital role of preserving mental harmony (in Lorand, 1991), and Shoshani (2002) points out that "The 

moments of grace in art awaken in us a feeling of recuperation" (p. 76). The meeting between the 

conscious and the subconscious, enabled by the language of art, creates a connection between the 

different parts of the personality and contributes to mental wholeness. 

The language of art exists on two levels. One level I define as "the level of inner processing", as it is 

connected to deep inner mental processes (Storr, 1991). This level leads to the second level which I 

define as "the level of exterior appearance". This is the level at which contents – laden signs and 

shapes - are arranged and ordered into an artistic product. (These levels are comparable to 

Ehrenzweig's (1967) 'deep level' and 'surface level' of perception). 

Using this language is a psychic dialogue between the artist and the materials of his art. A personal 

world of contents meets a world of physical materials. As the artist struggles with his medium, he 

unknowingly contends with his subconscious personality (Ehrenzweig, 1967). The language of art, 

which is a general language, necessary and objective (Kandinsky, 1984), becomes a personal and 

private language of the 'self' as personal contents pour into its open and general shapes. "A graphic 

creation is not built in a vacuum: it is connected to the psychological structure of the painter and is 

created in a unique interpersonal situation within the process of painting" (Abraham, 1989: 13). The 

artist and his creation are one. There is no alienation but, instead, there is an experience of 

“consolidation between the body and the awakening intention" (Shoshani, 2002: 80). This is the reason 

why we "attribute some kind of explicit or implicit ‘I’ to each work of art, which is then identified with the 

artist" (Lorand, 1991: 107). It is clear then that what one artist does, another will not do. The sensitivity 

47

of the artist and the way he uses his materials determine his personal style, his own language (Lorand, 

1991). 

Although the language of art is defined as 'autonomic' and having an 'inner necessity', pure and 

objective, it allows works to emerge which differ from each other, are original, unique and one-of-a kind. 

The subjective content that is poured into the formative foundations can produce one general shape 

today and another tomorrow (Lorand, Ibid). 

4.1.3 The Language of Art as a Tool for Phrasing and Expressing 

Art as a language with inner resources and a reservoir of inner materials is a language of the soul, and 

each artist has his private language. As a philosopher, the artist investigates reality and will forever be 

occupied with observing his inner world. It is clear, therefore, that each of his paintings is a self-portrait 

(Whiteford, 1987). 

The painters of the Expressionist school typify this approach. Their paintings deal with self-investigation. 

Their style of painting is personal and the choice of medium (painting materials) is true to their feelings, 

not to reality or nature. They focus on painting portraits and self-portraits (Read, 1980; Bowness, 1985; 

Whiteford, 1987). The term ‘Expressionism’ "serves to describe all art that emanates from subjective 

feelings and not from objective observations" (Bowness, 1985: 87). As Bowness quotes Matisse: "What 

I am after all is expression… I am unable to distinguish between the feeling I have for life and my way of 

expressing it…Expression to my way of thinking does not consist of the passion mirrored on a human 

face or betrayed by a violent gesture. The whole arrangement of my picture is expressive" (p. 88). 

This school of art represents a tangible realisation of the idea that the language of art is the language of 

the soul; investigating the soul, rubbing up against it, expressing and representing it. Expressionism 

stresses the physical presence of the medium and places it centre-stage, to be a direct spokesperson of 

the reality which the painter wishes to describe. In other words, colour is neither transparent nor self- 

deprecating in front of reality. Colour is the artist’s reality (Avramson, 1996). The Expressionist artist 

does not wish to reflect the reality of the world around him but to reflect his own feelings. An 

individualist, who focuses on his personal world, creating his own rules and developing a style identified 

with him (Peiper, 1983). The school strongly expressed the connection between art and the Freudian 

psychology which developed in the same period and place (West, 2004). 

Expressionism is only interested in "expression and concreteness" (Barasch, 1969). The language of art 

is considered a tool to facilitate expression, an "optic realization and direct, sensual revelation of 

contents and trends" (p. 16). I have added to this discussion the idea that not only does the language 

have signs and shapes but, as a language, depends on its physical materials. 

48

Extending this understanding of the language of art as a tool to express and illustrate, I go back to the 

Renaissance period to reveal another aspect of its artistic means, which are defined as images. While 

Expressionism uses materials for expression, Renaissance sets the universal human image above all 

(Barasch, 1992). Then, too, artists sought the motion of the soul. Leonardo da Vinci said that a picture 

that does not show the movement of the soul is doubly dead, "Once because it is dead (or silent) in a 

real sense, and once because it does not show the movement of body and soul" (quoted in Barasch, 

1992: 80). That is the reason why Leonardo demanded that the artist "design the movements of the 

figures so that they match their mental states; meaning that if you describe a figure that is angry, the 

face must not hint otherwise, and vice versa, but be such that it can only be explained as being angry. 

The same is true for joy, sadness, laughter, crying or similar states" (p. 80). Renaissance art captured 

the subject of facial expression and established a unified tradition of the face's design. "These were 

artists who more than anyone else made the human face a known territory of emotional expression" (p. 

80). 

In sum, the language of art is the language of the soul and uses many means to express itself. These 

means can be materials and particular ways of using them (Expressionism); they can also be the 

images which the language creates and the content that these images represent. It stands to reason 

that the self-portraits painted for this study are merely the tip of an iceberg. 

4.2 Form 

4.2.1 Revealing and Concealing: Metaphor and Symbol 

Goethe describes the artistic end-product as 'A live and immediate revelation of the obscure' (in Storr, 

1991). It documents and tells a story in its own way, a story heretofore hidden. But even at its exposure 

it is still wrapped in secrecy. "It is a symbol which by its shape imitates emotions using abstract means 

and a certain image for the feelings it imitates" (Lorand, 1991: 117). Paraphrasing Goethe, one can say 

that it is not only a revealing of the obscure but a concealing revelation. 

The same language of art that frees the soul's story and brings it to the surface is also the language that 

conceals it. The visible 'surface level', formed and ordered in the words of the language of painting 

(colour, shape, composition, etc.) covers and conceals the 'deep level', the contents of the soul 

(Ehrenzweig, 1976). Thus the end-product is not the "story" itself; it is tangible, physical and ideational 

characters which carry the "story"; it is a metaphor for something else. "Tones, shapes, lines and 

images replace words" (Or, 2005: 82) and a lack of words leaves the stories obscure and undeciphered. 

49

The painting is therefore a metaphor, a visual and lingual unit which contains ‘beyond’, ‘in addition to’ 

and ‘in place of’ (Noy, 1999). The finished painting, Noy (1999) writes, depicts what is missing, the 

absent, the painting itself does not tell the real story. A metaphor is a solution for the painter who wants 

to, and perhaps must, express things he cannot say in any ordinary, acceptable manner. To this Jung 

(1993, and in Storr, 1998) adds that a metaphor is a bridge between logical, conscious processes and 

subconscious ones. Lacan introduces another metaphor: he says that the painting is the curtain that 

hides the beauty (in Golan 2002). One has to open the curtain (the picture) to reveal the beauty (the 

story). 

The painting is not only a metaphor for the story of the self but using metaphor is part of creating a 'self'. 

Cohen (2005) says "the metaphor mediates between the inner and the outer …between the 'self' that 

was created and the 'self' that emerges…The metaphoric process enriches, even creates, the 'ego'. A 

metaphor says little about the world but a lot about the 'ego', it's coming to pass, its character and 

unending creation"(p. 32). 

Symbols are all the signs and shapes that I define, in this research, as 'artistic means'. The literature 

on art frequently ties the two together in one meaning (Noy, 1999) but I prefer to distinguish them and, 

with Noy, define a metaphor as a double unit that combines at least two components – the symbol and 

the symbolised. The symbol is used chiefly as a means to isolate or underline one item out of some 

wholeness, and the metaphor replaces that whole (Noy, 1999). One must admit, however, that "the 

differences [between metaphor and symbol] can become blurred" (Noy, 1999: 289). 

Earlier in this chapter, I mentioned the 'physical distance' from the painter that the symbol creates 

(Launger, 1976; Storr, 1991). The symbol makes it possible for the artist to both distance himself from 

his 'self', but simultaneously approach closer to himself, hauling up his story from the depths of his 

subconscious. The symbol is, therefore, not only an indirect way to create a 'story’ it is also the indirect 

embodiment of the story. "It is a means to design concepts; therefore it also implies a concept" (Storr, 

1991: 163). These concepts are represented by colours, shapes, feelings and emotions that come to 

surface from the depth of the soul (Launger, 1976). 

Artistic devices in place of words, symbols as concepts – these are the formal elements of painting 

which Mukarovsky (1983) describes as 'semantic factors'. The symbol is a sign, and a sign is 

"something that replaces something else and points at it" (p. 62). These semantic factors create the 

semiological character of art; they are the foundation of its language and have semantic value 

(Mukarovsky, 1983). For the purpose of this study I define them as 'formative artistic means', that is, 

the sum total of the ways and means the artist uses to create the product that carries his story and 

mental contents. 

50

Mukarovsky (1983) explains that surface, tone, colour and line seem at first just optical elements, when 

as a matter of fact they are not. They are meaningful, semantic factors, as are perspective, coloured 

areas and outlines. These means, while material and physical do not in themselves have a material 

affinity to a definite object, but like a musical composition they carry potential, semantic, energy. "This 

energy, emanating from the work of art as a totality, indicates a certain attitude to the world and to 

reality" (Mukarovsky, 1983: 71). It is the same 'inner need' that Kandinsky (1984: 61) defines as pure 

and objective. These are the objective elements which become clear with the aid of the subjective, 

when the artist chooses the shapes mentally close to him, shapes and fills them with his personal 

content together with the content of the period he represents (Kandinsky, 1984). 

I agree with Mukarovsky when he claims that in judging a work of art we cannot separate the 'formative' 

aspect from the 'content-related' aspect. In Mukarovsky's opinion, all the elements in a work of art, 

without exception, are components of the form, and all its elements have significance and contain extra- 

aesthetic values. The form is the totality of the painting, all that is in it – whether these are physical 

signs or other contents. Vardi (2004) clarifies this by saying that the painting, when seen, is the story 

itself, and its contents are the narrative. 

4.2.2 Means and Components 

I have said that the language of art is a visual language but have not yet described what it looks like. 

Unlike spoken languages, the language of art is not heard but seen and its messages are primary, 

immediate and perceived by the senses of touch and sight. "To what extent is there any significance or 

reason to state that a painting is like a language?" asks Peiper (1983) and answers: "At least to this 

extent: the painting, like a language is a means to transmit emotions and thoughts, and it makes sense 

to see paintings and pictures as totalities, which we can wholly understand through proper expertise in 

the traditions and conventions used" (p. 98). Here I ask – What are those traditions and conventions? 

What sort of signs are they? What do they convey? 

A painting is "typified by its components – line, shape, tone, light and shadow, proportion, perspective― 

and the composition of its parts, which create one complex" (Vardi, 2004: 26). 

I use the following terms to classify the language of art, as presented in this paper. 

Artistic means – the inner, autonomic language of a painting. According to Kandinsky (1984), a 

language that exists in its own right and is objective. 

Single, primary artistic means – all the signs available to the language of art from which a 

consolidated shape is structured. 

51

Visual Values – the various primaries, isolated artistic means, such as Line, Tone, Form, Colour, 

Shadow, Light, Structure, Composition, etc. 

Consolidated, secondary artistic means – completed forms made by using visual values. 

Genre and style – visual means which have a classificatory ascription to the language of art and its 

contexts. They relate to the development of artistic language, its representatives, characters and 

contents. The genre identified in a picture can show that it is a product of a particular period, place, 

philosophy, mood or the work of a certain artist (Peiper, 1983). 

Images – a fusing of artistic means to present a story by images. 

Diagram 5 presents a schema of the language of art, using the above terms. 

Diagram 5: The Language of Art – Components 

Language of Art 

Formative, isolated 

and primary artistic means 

Visual Values- 

Line, colour, form, 

etc 

Consolidated, 

Secondary 

Artistic means 

52 

Genre and style 

Images

4.2.3 Single, Primary Artistic Means: Visual Values 

When taking a painting apart and breaking it down into its components, these ‘components’ refer to the 

colour composition and its shapes, the scheme of nuances, light and shade in the work of art, size and 

movement relationships, the materials used, the techniques, and so on. These artistic means are the 

words of the language I have defined as 'visual values', such as colour, light and shade, line and 

sketch, tone, surface and texture, movement, volume, mass and weight, structure and organisation. 

I now set out some of the meanings of these terms. 

Colour: One can examine colour as a particular named colour and as a definition with different 

meanings. Kanev (1986,) describes it thus: "We can be impressed by a colourful surface, absorb many 

messages from it […] the tone of colour arouses in us many associations such as fire, water or earth. It 

reminds us of warmth, coolness and freshness or stability and weight. One moment it seems 

aggressive, another time it can be quiet, stormy, attractive or repellent. We can use it to express an 

object or an idea, a feeling or a mood, truth or beauty" (p. 25). We can examine its purity or lightness, 

whether it is transparent or opaque, smooth or textured (Kanev, 1986). 

Kandinsky (1984) describes “forbidden' and 'permitted' combinations, clashes between different colours, 

one colour's defensiveness towards another, the defensiveness of many colours against one, the 

shadings of one colour out of many, the precise placing of colour tone, one-sided or many-sided, 

dissolving, halting the dripping colour blot within the borders of the sketch, extending the tone beyond 

this barrier, blending, bordering etc” (p. 79). 

Light and shade: These are derived from the use of colour and from what are defined as lack of colour 

– blacks and whites. Light and shade have profound meanings in their contents and symbolism, as well 

as their ability to create illusions of depth and three dimensions with the aid of colour tonality, brightness 

and darkness, light and shade (Peiper, 1983). 

Line and drawing: Over against colour work, which is defined as the 'painterly style' that sees things in 

blocs, is the 'linear style' that sees things in lines (Wolfflin 1989). Linear sight deals with outlines which 

describe the borders of the object. This is the way to "lead the eyes along the border lines […]. The line 

is the 'standing border' while colour is 'the shape that starts to jitter"(p. 63). "It is like a track that runs 

evenly all around the form …a guide on whose leadership one can depend […] it pushes the form into 

place and turns the appearance itself into a permanent one" (p. 64). 

Kanev (1986) teaches us to look at line and ask: "Has it a character of its own? Does it look more 

delicate than a thick line? What we see as a line – is it not, perhaps, an elongated, narrow tone? Are the 

lines made by the brush obeying an inner logic or some form of organisation? Do they combine 

53

simplicity with an abundance of colour, monotony with surprise? Do the lines reflect a patter of a 

personal language or some unique handwriting? Do they look nervous or restless?" And so on. (p. 30). 

Tone: The tone is a formative and physical object on the canvas, colourful or colourless, defined or 

amorphous. One can examine the tone in relation to space and ask: What is the connection between 

the colourful blotchiness and visual depth; what are the relations between tones, background and the 

terms 'surrounded', 'surrounding', 'large', 'small': (Kanev, 1986). And what are the relations between the 

tones as colours mingled with each other or as a dialogue between line and tone. 

Surface and texture: When we discuss surface we can play with endless dimensions, postures, 

placing, shades or shapes (Kanev, 1986). The surface contains and presents the texture of the painting. 

The question of texture arises from the material aspect, base or colour, and from the theoretical aspect, 

as a painted texture. Types of texture can be non-smooth or non-uniform of any kind, with repeated 

patterns, smooth surfaces as opposed to rough-lined like many-faced brush strokes, materialistic. And 

there are surfaces where the colours "loudly scream their biography – what they are made of and how 

they arrived at their place in the painting" (Peiper, 1983: 119). 

Movement – The signs on the canvas – colour, line and tone – exert a force on us, directing us and 

creating movement. Though the painting is static what takes place in it creates activity. Movement can 

be created by the directions of lines, their length and materialism, relationships between the paint 

surfaces, encounters between forms, balance and imbalance, the way the brush strokes are made, 

rhythm and beat. The active eye of the observer tends to run all over the canvas and collect endless, 

mutual comparisons between similar details that appear in his sight. "Let us put a 'heavy' tone and pull 

the painting downward, place a pronounced tone and pull it forward, now look at any painting and we 

will be able to identify in it dozens of components which pull it in many directions. What earlier seemed 

to us a stationary and calm surface suddenly seems very stormy” (Kanev, 1986: 46). 

Volume, mass, heaviness, weight: These relate to three-dimensionality and depth, as opposed to 

flatness and width, and describe conditions of gravity. Mass and space, the placing of objects in space, 

what advances towards the viewer and what recedes from him. Empty spaces compared with full and 

dense ones, the penetration of objects, one into another (Peiper, 1983). Weight is not only a physical 

matter, it can also be a question of 'gravity' in the sense of discipline, and even psychologically – a 

feeling of heaviness and unease compares to lightness, airiness and space (Kanev, 1986). 

Organisation of space: This term describes the manner in which the different components are 

organized in the painting's space. It deals with the relationships (both among themselves and in the 

painting) of the components – lines, tones, images, shapes. A feeling of depth and space, size and 

proportions (Peiper, 1983). 

54

Other single artistic means, omitted here, are background, tension, convergence, points of view, 

contrasts, similarities, dynamics between shapes and more. It is clear that the dictionary of the language 

of art is rich and varied. 

4.2.4 Consolidated Secondary Artistic Means: Image, Genre, Style 

Image, genre, style depend on the painting, the artist, the period, etc. I cannot go into them in detail at 

this point but when I come to analyse the data I will have to define, translate and explain them. 


4.3.1 The Language of Art: Interpreting and Having to be Interpreted 

I have said that creating art is a form of research. It is therefore clear that the product of the creative 

process is a research product. A painting I have defined as an 'explanatory, interpretative and visual 

text’. What does interpretation mean when we are dealing with art? What kind of interpretation is it? 

What does the artist observe when he investigates his work and how should we define the role of his 

investigation and its products? 

The artist's observation of external reality will always be intertwined with his inner reality, which he is 

also looking at. In this study I, as an artist, observe outer reality in the image reflected in the mirror, 

while also peering into my inner reality. Every painting, we have agreed, is an inward observation and a 

self-portrait only more so. The reality I observe (my reflected image) raises the issue of the connection 

of the artist to reality. In my study I do not look at the reality I wish to paint out of a commitment to 

imitate, copy or try to be, as the common expression has it, 'true to nature'. The reality I choose to 

observe is the subject, the source of inspiration and point of departure. And that is what I want to hold 

onto in on my journey of interpretation. Basing my approach on Kandinsky (1984), I try to integrate three 

components: the artistic, objective components at my disposal, my private and sub-conscious world, 

and the totality of my concepts, values and world view. 

There are different kinds of interpretation: interpretation of symbols, analytical interpretation, and 

applied and complementary interpretation (Lorand, 1991). In my study I see the 'artistic activity' as 

'complementary interpretation', which aims to complete what was partial, crude or just hinted at. 

Analytical interpretation breaks down the object into its components but “complementary interpretation 

erects a complete object from its scattered parts" (Lorand, 1991: 170). Using shreds of ideas and 

building a theory from them is one kind of complementary explanation. It is like "taking wood, nails, glue 

55

and glass and creating something from them – that is a complementary interpretation. It is an 

explanatory action that processes raw materials into a new product" (Lorand, 1991: 170). 

The need for interpretation is double. First, because of the contents and messages the painting 

contains, and second, because its symbolic language must be made to reveal what it hides. The 

language of art constructs the painting, creating an aesthetic experience (Vardi, 2007), but one that is 

incomplete as long as the painting remains mysterious. Completion will occur when the artistic product 

receives "a multi-layered intellectual explanation based on the points of view of alternative theories" (p. 

77). The work of art is, therefore, an invitation to an intellectual dialogue and "a presentation of 

arguments and reasoning that make possible a critical dialogue between varieties of aesthetic 

interpretations" (p. 77). 

"The word does not replace the tone and shape, but neither can we do without it" (Vardi, 2004: 26). The 

main task of the art interpreter is to "carry out an alchemical effort, trying to translate pictorial 

components into verbal language and theory" (p. 26). Observing a painting cannot end with sight only, 

because "to see a painting means to read it" (Vardi, 2007: 79). Reading the work of art, interpreting it, 

the discourse that follows, all these enlarge and enrich it. The finished work of art is, therefore, a partner 

in the discourse in which the "visual text is translated into verbal text. The discourse about a visual work 

of art brings the work more to life" (p. 79). This 'aesthetic knowledge' (Eisner, 1985) joins 'paradigmatic 

knowledge', which is analytical, general, abstract, impersonal and context bound, and the 'narrative 

knowledge', that is specific, local, personal and context-bound (Bruner, 1990). Each of these paths to 

knowledge works according to its own system to reach its own truth (Schonmann, 2002). This is the 

special and the unique knowledge that will accumulate in this research through the binding f the 

language of art with the language of research methods (in which will be explained later). 

4.3. 2 The Language of Art as Therapy and Autobiography 

(a) Therapy 

In Section 4.1.2 we agreed that the language of art is also the language of the self and that ‘the 

encounter between the mind and creation has healing value’. We can sum up what was said there with 

Jung's (1993) words on his work from 1928 onwards, a very emotional period in his life when he 

focused on non-verbal images: "When I succeeded in translating the emotions into paintings, i.e. to find 

the images hidden in the feelings, I felt more calm and safe. If I had left these images hidden in 

emotions they might have torn me apart" (p.171). 

56

McNiff (1998), an art therapist, creative artist and researcher, also claims that art-based research, the 

kind of research where an artist investigates his own artwork, is also a healing process. Geldman (2006) 

compares the creative processes that interpret and are interpreted to clinical work. Clinical work aims to 

"gradually return the alienated human experience to the 'self' […] a process that makes it possible for 

the patient to know and fully understand who he is, and who he is becoming" (Ogden 2003: 29).Lacan 

(In Golan, 2002) says that "Works of Art, More then they reflected the inner psychologically creativity, 

they give them birth" (p. 8). What are the parallels between art and clinical work? 

In the early stages, when the painting is still something to be explained, it serves as a container and a 

tool, a sort of talisman (Schaverien, 1995), and thus its role is similar to that of the therapist. The symbol 

(the artistic form) which distanced the artist from his product lets him see in the painting the other he is 

talking to. Schaverien (1995) puts it thus: "… there is an immediate feedback from the object. An act 

has taken place, something that cannot be denied has been created, here it is, and outside my self […]. 

One can see the production of a painting as a mediating and reflecting activity which makes the inner 

world visible…. This is the way for man to get to know himself via the objects he creates (p. 99). 

Painting creates an effect that reminds one of the dialogues in psychotherapy which Kuhons (in Levi, 

1998) terms 'mirroring'. The painting acts as an echo, reflecting back and forth at several levels of 

consciousness, creating an encounter with messages from the subconscious, processing and re- 

shaping them. The interpretative process in which the veil is removed from a painting, confront man with 

his self. Explaining a painting is like excavating an archaeological mound. The interpreter removes the 

'surface level' so as to reach the 'deep level' (Ehrenzweig, 1976). It is similar to clinical work and the 

decoding of dreams, which Freud (1999) compared to deciphering ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics Jung 

(1993) compares decoding a painting to decoding a dream: its symbols, signs and shapes contain 

significant ideas the dismantling of which makes it possible to build a new painting, different and more 

complete. 

(b) Autobiography 

Kristeva (1989), who coined the term 'Intertextuality' for her interpretative approach, insists that when 

we conduct a hermeneutic reading we have to look for the soul of the author. "Painting is like writing a 

diary" said Picasso (quoted in Cameron, 1977: 17), and painting a self-portrait is like visually writing the 

story of one's life – a kind of autobiography (West, 2004). A therapeutic encounter is also considered to 

be a kind of autobiographical activity (Phillips, 1994). Hunt (2002) writes: "Psychoanalysis is 

autobiography by other means [….] one of the obvious similarities is that both involve work with stories 

about the self"(P. 213). In the past people believed that autobiography lays bare the truth about 

oneself. However, in the 20 th century, Freud and psychoanalysis showed that what seems to be the 

57

truth about the 'self' is often a lie (Heller, 1994a; Hunt, 2002). What we say about ourselves is often a 

means of diverting our and others' attention from the things that we prefer to remain hidden. The story 

we tell is, therefore, a story which has to be decoded in order to get at the real story. Hence, 

autobiography as the writer, painter or patient tells it is not ‘truth’. Hunt terms it a search for the 

subjective and personal truth of the self. 

The story that echoes around a therapeutic consulting room is a story that needs decoding, and the role 

of the therapist is to reveal the real story, the real self (Winnicott, 1971). Phillips (1994) says that the 

therapeutic process of taking apart the reported story in order to decode it needs to be followed by a 

second stage of rebuilding the story into a new autobiography. The investigation that this paper 

presents does just that, it reshapes and makes more complete the first version of the artist’s 

autobiography. 

I thus wish to lay down the equation that painting parallels therapy and that painting a self-portrait is a 

sort of autobiography. Painting a self-portrait = therapy = research = interpretation = autobiographical 

writing. 

Summary 

To reiterate, this chapter has presented the language of art, a language that creates the need to 

investigate and later is expected to be on the 'surgeon's table' so as to free it from its load. Picasso said: 

"Every act of creation is preceded by an act of destruction'. We will always deal with taking materials 

apart in order to change them into a holistic whole (Shoshani, 2002). The interpretation that the 

language of art produces and presents via the complete picture, takes apart materials from the self and 

unites them with tangible means (Lorand, 1991). The interpretation that the investigative process is 

expected to produce is also like taking apart a product / the complete painting, as an act of destruction, 

aspiring to create a new creation, complete, whole and unified. It is my opinion that only then will we 

really accept one of the faces of the self-portrait as a type of autobiographical truth. 

58


Chapter 5: 

METHODOLOGY 



5.2.1 Qualitative Research 

5.2.2 Hermeneutic Research 

5.2.3 Supplementary Research Approaches 


5.3.1 Organising the Data 


5.4.1 Content Analysis 

5.4.2 Intertextuality 


5.5.1 On Truth and Art 

5.5.2 Truth in Qualitative Research 

5.5.3 Reliability and Validity 

5.5.4 Issues in Qualitative Research Raised by this Study 


Summary 

5.6.1 Researching Oneself 

5.6.2 When the Researcher is the Researched: Informed Consent 

5.6.3 Commitment to the Reader 

5.6.4 Products and Copyrights 

_____________ 

59


Throughout the painting stage of the research my creative activity went hand in hand with a reflective 

process – writing journals and photographing stages of the work. These studio activities are my 'field 

work'. Here the controlled data collecting process met the creative process. 

Creating and 're-encountering' the finished paintings divided into three periods: 

Period 1: Creation - this lasted about two years. I create and at the same time meet the paintings in 

different situations. I photograph each art work at different stages and again photograph the finished 

work. Thus, a photograph that started out for documentary purposes developed into part of the creative 

process. In this way, next to the paintings, a parallel body of work developed which, in addition to being 

process documentation, became raw material as well. From these photographs I create, process and 

produce new works of art ― art objects, computer processing, installations and exhibitions. This led to 

an increased range of work materials. I used a variety of materials to prepare for the paintings, medium- 

sized formats, especially large formats, sketch books and old art books. Some of the products 

developed from the additional raw materials and some from self-portraits originally painted in front of a 

mirror. This means that, though they were not actually paintings produced in front of a mirror, they were 

works of art that developed from the original. Here, I wish to stress that in the presentation of the 

research I defined and limited the actions but not the products. 

When I started the investigation I declared that I would file away each work as it was completed and go 

back to it only when I started the analysis stage. This decision was backed by the wish to create some 

kind of separation between me, the painter, and me, the investigator. But here, too, the dynamics of the 

creative process led to a different process and affected the process of data collecting. 

At the same time that I worked on the large picture on the wall, I also worked in sketch books on my 

work table, as always in front of a mirror, and in old art books that I collected in antique markets. Among 

these books is one that has stayed with me throughout the period of creating art works, a book that over 

time has become the central and most significant piece of data in my work. I call it a 'Book Object' and it 

is a key component of the analysis chapter of this study. 

During the second year of my work in the studio I was invited, as an artist, to take part in a large and 

important project. Taking part in the project did not change my work routine as I took my work on self- 

portraits with me to the project. I expanded the portrait work, made use of the photographs which had 

undergone processing, alteration, cutting and printing, and out of this composed an installation based 

on the original portraits. As a result of this project I continued to process original works in various ways, 

which yielded additional data to the research. 

60

My creative activity developed in another direction when I asked a research colleague, Dr. Eli Avrahami, 

a psycho-dramatist and narrative researcher, to join me. Dr. Avrahami showed me a psycho-dramatic 

method as a means to analyse paintings (see appendix 1). To demonstrate this, we created a work 

framework, defined it and acted in it. This process opened up the circle of subjectivity of the research 

study, after which I produced a quantity of data which was added to the collection: exhibition, 

installations and a photographed and computerised documentation of the whole process. 

Period 2: 'Putting on hold' – lasted about a year. During this year I put aside the works of art. It was a 

period of cooling off to create a separation between the artist and the researcher in me. In this period I 

took time to write certain parts of the thesis. 

Period 3: Analysis – after this year I renewed my encounter with my works of art, for research and 

analysis. I returned to fieldwork on the data which was now at a new stage that included sorting, 

gathering and organising. The renewed fieldwork allowed me to identify additional data, such as self- 

portraits painted in the distant past. These are not data created in the field for research purposes, but 

may be defined as second-order data. 

During this period I added another research colleague to the investigation, Mrs. Yona Shahar Levi, a 

movement therapist and internationally-known researcher of movement, who showed me a unique 

method of analysis she had developed, the Paradigm of Free Movement. Meetings with her consisted of 

talks and interviews in front of the portraits, while she explained her tools and analysed the paintings 

together with me. This encounter yielded additional materials, later defined as a store of alternative 

data. 

All the above methods can be used as a unique way of using one field of art to analyse another. 

I familiarised myself with each method and used the elements of each that suited my needs. I did not 

exhaust their potential because this study was not the place to do that. Nevertheless I regard this 

untapped potential as material for future studies. 

. 


5.2.1 Qualitative Research 

The paradigm of this research is qualitative, constructivist and post-structuralist. This is my worldview as 

a researcher. Qualitative research makes it possible to say something about reality, even via a unique, 

irregular and perhaps personal investigation. As an artist I can say "every human experience, even 

unusual, if presented in a way that permits it, will carry a larger significance" (Shlasky and Alpert, 2007: 

61

26). Qualitative research opens the way for many possibilities and the challenge of my investigation is to 

make use of this opening in the best way possible. 

At the basis of the qualitative paradigm stands the hypothesis that it is impossible to separate the 

researcher from the research subject and that the researcher has no way to take an objective attitude to 

his subject (Guba and Lincoln, 1989, 1998). There is a strong and dynamic bond between the 

researcher and his subject. In addition, qualitative-constructivist researchers want to understand the 

investigated phenomenon as it is understood by those who take part in it, and to stay as close as 

possible to the unique structure of the research participant's world (Maykut and Morehouse, 1994). 

Knowledge construction depends on the place and worldview of the investigator, which means that the 

proximity of the investigator to his subject is one of the basic elements of qualitative research. The 

researcher "speaks from an interpretative concept that shapes the investigative meaning of the data" 

(Sabar, 2002: 19). The researcher observes a phenomenon and wishes to give it meaning. His 

worldview influences and directs his interpretation because "people construct their knowledge through 

their experiences in this world" (Shkedi, 2003: 36). Hence "the meaning of the phenomenon is 

subjective and relative to the concepts in which it is constructed" (p. 36). I push the boundaries of this 

idea as far as possible. 

5.2.2 Hermeneutic Research 

In my study, the language of my creations is symbolic and creates signs, which need to be understood 

and interpreted. This is the role of hermeneutics which looks for something that is not visible at first 

sight. The hypothesis of the interpreter is that there is something hidden in the text which he must 

expose (Levi, 1986). Dargish and Sabar (2002) explain that hermeneutics is a theory or philosophy of 

giving meaning to things by interpreting them. The objective of hermeneutic research is to understand 

and interpret language and text (Gallagher, 1992). My self-portraits I define as texts. 

Hermeneutic research was developed by Allen and Jensen (1990) as a middle road between 

philosophical and objective hermeneutics. The most prominent representatives of philosophical 

hermeneutics are Heidegger and Gadamer who claim that interpretation depends on the reader of the 

text, who "is allowed to analyse texts from a relativist position and give a subjective interpretation to 

things" (Dargish and Sabar, 2002: 79). At the same time, the text itself is open to any interpretative 

reading, regardless of its author and creator (Kristeva, 1989; Derrida, 2002; Barthes, 2007). In the eyes 

of the post-structuralist hermeneutic researcher, the text is "a reality by itself which can, therefore, be 

taken apart and interpreted" (Shlasky and Alpert, 2007: 24). The interpreting reader is the one who 

brings life to the text and renews it. 

62

Dilthey is the most prominent representative of objective hermeneutics, which strives to understand the 

human spirit in an objective manner and assumes that the object of research in social sciences has 

permanent meanings which can be exposed (Dargish and Sabar, 2002). That is why the objective 

interpretation of a text is "like entering the mental life of the author" (p. 80), an attempt to discover the 

truth known only to the author of the text. 

Between these two approaches stands the intermediary position of Ricoeur (1981) called the theory of 

phenomenological hermeneutics. Ricoeur states that a text has two aspects – an objective and a 

subjective one. He wishes to isolate the text and distance it from the psycho-social conditions in which it 

was formed, claiming that "the text has to shed all its contexts during the reading, so that new contexts 

can be built in a different situation" (Ricoeur, 1981: 139). He suggests two stages for interpretative 

reading, dependent on and complementing each other. An inner reading analyses the inner text 

objectively and an additional reading, based on the first, creates inner and outer connections. According 

to Ricoeur, interpretative reading must be based on both these stages, constructed one on top of the 

other. 

This study centres on a visual text which originated in art. Kandinsky's (1984, and in Balas, 2002) 

approach to analysing and interpreting works of art, which to my mind is similar to Ricoeur's, is based 

on the idea that in interpretative reading there are subjective and objective aspects which must first be 

separated and then re-combined. He says that one has to "penetrate a work of art, be active in it, and 

experience its heartbeats with all our senses" (quoted in Balas, 2002: 17). This is what he means by 

interpretation. Though he invites the interpreter to experience the work of art, he does not waive the 

need for a structured, logical and systematic process which will be able to make a bridge to the work’s 

inner life (Balas, 2002). Continuing this theme, Kandinsky proposes a combined method of analysis – 

analytic and synthetic. The 'analytic approach' is based on logic and deals with investigating the 

elements – lines, shapes, colours by themselves. The 'synthetic approach' leans on intuition and relies 

on the analytic part. It includes all the elements; hence it is naturally wider, dealing with the study of 

contexts and their interrelations. 

The approaches I have described all agree that the objective and subjective have to be combined. The 

basis on which I work is the hermeneutic method developed by Allen and Jensen (1990), based on the 

theory of Ricoeur. I combine it with Kandinsky's approach based on the same principles. 

(a) My Fusion of the Allen and Jensen and Kandinsky Methods 

In order to allow the two dimensions - objective and subjective – to be expressed, the process of 

investigation is divided into two stages, the first structural and the second, substance-related. 

The first stage – structural and objective – considers the text to be a closed and independent unit. The 

reader, according to his own chosen categories, seeks inner logic, such as a closed system of signs or 

63

topics, between which there are meaningful connections and which have some discernible structure 

(Dargish and Sabar, 2002). At this stage the text must be divided into units and parts which may later be 

re-integrated (Allen and Jensen, 1990). I call this 'intra-textual analysis' and it is the stage which 

produces the factual findings and is the basis for interpretation and meaning-finding. 

The second stage – substance-related – develops from its predecessor. This is the interpretative stage 

in which the reader wishes to complete the analysis and give the identified structures their meaning 

(Dargish and Sabar, 2000). At this stage the interpreter seeks connections between the structures 

themselves, relies on his own inner world and ties it in with the constructs of the outer world, outside the 

text. I call this 'intertextual synthesis'. This is the stage at which new structures are created, an 

ideated data synthesis, and the interpretations – the imperative findings – are presented. The following 

diagram sets out the structure of my research. 

Diagram 6: A Two-Stage, Multi-Directional, Hermeneutic Investigation 

Stage I – 

Structural analysis 

Intra-textual analysis 

Borrowed method 

from 

Grounded theory 

approach 

Two stages Hermeneutics 

investigation 

Categorical 

Content analysis of visual 

means 

Stage II- 

Substance interpretation- 

- 

Intertextual synthesis 

Intertextuality analysis 

and interpretation 

The categories 

and their properties- 

Deconstruction 

and reconstruction 

64 

Hints, references, texts, 

Citation, notions, 

associations, connotations, 

phenomena, forms 

Para -textual 

Intra – textual 

Extra- textual 

Intertextuality 

synthesis

5.2.3 Supplementary Research Approaches 

Denzin and Lincoln (1994), state that it is possible to investigate in more than one accepted method. 

Several other research approaches have contributed to my operational methodology: 

(a) Action research 

In Action - research “the involvement of the researcher is maximal" (Keini, 2006: 23). Two of its 

principles are relevant to my investigation― reflectivity and the personal investment in a research study: 

Reflectivity: In Action - research the researcher is aware of himself and "copes […] with questions that 

arise at each stage of the research: what is happening? What am I doing? What should I do?" 

(Zellermayer, 2002: 309). These questions turn up in my research at every stage in the 'Chain of 

observations'. Zellermayer (2002) reminds us that Action - research in the Post-modern era "creates a 

space for the participants to look again at their personal and professional biography" (p. 325). The 

content of my research centres on and around self-investigation and self-study. Still, Shlasky (2006) 

warns against over-emphasising the 'self' and turning the Action - research into a kind of therapy, only 

interested in personal growth. I pay heed to this warning. After completing the paintings, the 

investigation of the text removes me as a subject from centre stage and in this way I by-pass the 

therapeutic activity that is in art and concentrates on the 'investigative activity' (I do not ignore the 

therapeutic aspects but they are not the objective of the research). 

Personal investment in a research study: "Action - research is research in which the action is the 

most significant human expression because it enables one to lay bare his unique identity" (Arendt, 1958 

in Keini, 2006: 31). Keini (2006) considers action research to be a liberating act, research that enables 

people to define themselves and develop their identities. When the researcher observes his own 

actions, personal growth is possible from which both he and society can benefit. "Realising his personal 

freedom depends on the confrontation between the unique and personal expression of the individual 

and the presence of others" (Keini, 2006: 32). In my study, I (the artist) take on a personal journey using 

a known genre (self-portraiture). This kind of experience has the potential for freedom and personal 

growth and from it I can derive general and universal insights into culture, the science of art 

investigation and psychology. 

(b) Self-Study Research 

The research approach called 'Self-study' grew out of 'Action- research'. There are some who consider 

the two to be one approach, while others state that it is an investigative approach on its own 

(Cosominski, 2007). In 'Self-study research' the researcher is the research. He documents his practices, 

directs and analyses them. The researcher focuses on himself, investigates himself, his thoughts and 

65

actions, and not those of others (Cosominsky, 2007). The researcher puts himself centre-stage in order 

to "reconstruct his professional identity" (Zellermayer, 2005: 20). He considers his 'self' to be his area of 

research (Dressel and Langreiter, 2003) as I do. My self is at the centre of the investigation, at times 

overtly, at other times covertly. 

In my study I have chosen to cope with the issue of the 'self' from all aspects, without fear, while 

recognising the problems that this kind of research presents and developing a methodology that can 

manage these problems and still produce a sound and useful investigation. 

(c) Art – Based Research - Practitioner Based Research in the Arts 

This genre embodies the principles of Action Research Self-Study: "Its main difference from more 

standard research in arts and humanities is the inclusion of creative work as part of the research object 

and the involvement of the self as a research object, because the self is a vehicle for the creative work" 

(Wisker, 2002: 213). 

The presence of art in research is relevant on two points. First, art is both action and self. Second, the 

combination of art and research has a unique value in creating knowledge. Alexander (2002) explains 

that both art and research originate from an inner point of view "through new ways of experiencing 

investigated reality, using symbolic experience" (p. 233). A work of art is "a visible form of expression to 

ways in which human experience accumulates and coalesces into the world's knowledge" (Schonmann, 

2002: 559). 

Art-based research has two stages in my study and, as Dallow (2003) indicates, at each of these stages 

the role of art changes. The first stage is defined as Research through Art, in which art serves as a 

research instrument. The second stage is defined as Research the Art, in which the product is the 

subject of the investigation. This stage is also a 'turning point', when action research becomes 

interpretative research and the painting is no longer a painting but becomes an 'investigative visual text', 

to be interpreted both interdisciplinary and Intertextuality. 

The combination of Action - research, Self – Study research, Art-based research and Case - study- 

enacted in this study leads me to suggest terming my research approach 'Artist- Self- Case -Study', 

and adding it to the family of Art-based research approaches. 

(d) The Case Study 

Case - study is a form of research concentrated on one specific case. Human activity is observed at a 

certain place and time (Patton, 1990, Stake 1994, 2000). It is a process by which we study and analyse 

"a defined unit – man, event, program, organization, a certain time or any other unit that the researcher 

defines as a 'case'" (Robson, 1993). When discussing a 'Case - study', the researcher is asked to 

66

designate the boundaries of time, place, participants and event (Sabar, 2002) and these boundaries 

dictate the conduct of the investigation and the organisation of information and data in a way that 

maintains the "unique character of the investigated objects" (p. 115). My self-portrait I present as a 

‘case’ and I set out the boundaries that a 'Case - study' demands. 

A Case-study can be considered as a single case from which one can generalise, and also as a case to 

accentuate and emphasise something. My study does not aim to generalise but to underline and 

emphasise the significance of the personal and unique. Thus it can be defined as a Case - study which 

helps explain a phenomenon. As Lacey (1970) stresses: "Only the particular can explain the universal" 

(quoted in Shlasky and Alpert, 2007: 26). From the case studied “one can try and illuminate and state 

things in a broader and more general way" (Yosiphon, 2002: 268). When the case is in art, this point is 

even more valid, since every work of art is a private and special case from which one can learn about 

the general (Lorand, 1991). 

Defining my research as a Case - study does not negate the use of other approaches because "a Case 

- study as an observation of a unique case which is thoroughly investigated makes it possible to use 

several methods in the research at one and the same time" (Yosiphon, 2002; 161). Defining a piece of 

research as a Case - study dictates the character of the field work, boundary setting, how data is 

collected and organised and the priorities in deciding which data to analyse. This approach determines 

the place of the investigator because a Case - study determines the naturalistic character of the 

research: we learn about situations in 'the real world' without having any control or supervision over the 

process. In this way the researcher is the main research tool and the collected data are abundant 

(Patton, 1990). In my research, by staying in the field over time I obtain a wealth of data, as Yin (1989) 

and Yosiphon explain: "A Case - study is a collection of abundant data, intensively collected, 

representing many and varied aspects about a certain case and underlining the uniqueness of the case 

[…] the collected data illuminate personal experiences and their meaning, provide the history of events, 

life stories" (p. 261). 

A Case - study allows us to determine and choose the data to be analysed. When we say 'case' we can 

ascribe it to a certain single item of data, or to a chosen unit as a sample of the large data obtained. Yin 

(1989) says that a defined case can contain a number of smaller cases. In my research, after 

organising and sorting the data and dividing them into groups and categories, I decide to choose one 

unit that represents the phenomenon. This unit contains all the required components needed for an 

investigation and fully constitutes an 'Interdisciplinary, Intratextual and Interpretative visual text' (I.I.I.T). 

67

(e) Grounded Theory 

Researchers who choose the Grounded - theory approach go out into the field, collect data and by 

systematic analysis create a theory to explain that data (Glaser and Strauss, 1967; Glaser, 1978; 

Gibton, 2002; Shkedi, 2003). This process makes it possible to turn hidden into visible knowledge, 

subconscious into conscious (Shkedi, 2003) and is similar to the situation in my study where large 

visible messages conceal hidden ones. This approach originated in the social sciences but was later 

adopted by psychology, behavioural sciences, economics and art (Glaser, 1978, Strauss and Corbin, 

1998). 

Grounded theory is also characterised by the way data is collected. Gibton (2000) says that "It must be 

done in as many ways as possible, and the researcher must be prepared to use tools he did not plan to 

use as, for instance a camera" (p. 216). In 'Grounded - theory' everything that occurs in the field in real 

time is data (Glaser, 2002). This important point explains the way data is developed and collected, even 

when it seems to exceed the boundaries set for the research. 

The 'Grounded - theory' approach allows a study to develop as it proceeds. The researcher goes along 

with the phenomena that develop in the field, and at the same time presenting a logical systematic and 

precise structure of data analysis with a view to building a rich and comprehensive theory (Glaser and 

Strauss, 1967; Glaser, 1978). 

The scientific aspect of 'Grounded - theory', and the objectivity necessary to carry out the kind of data 

analysis it demands, these are what made me choose this approach. Its methodology and tools help me 

maintain objectivity from my own works of art and minimise subjective biases. 


Case - study principles demand that one must collect a very large, diverse, variety of data that bear, 

directly and indirectly, on the investigation. Shkedi (2003) explains that according to Yin (1984), 

researchers must collect data using mainly three methods "observations, interviews and reviewing 

documents, and must also write down their comments on the event, or the interview, in real time or 

immediately afterwards" (p. 60). I now present the data that were collected under these three 

categories. 

Interviews 

1. Painting a portrait in front of a mirror is a kind of interview in which "I interview myself". The product of 

this interview is a 'visual text'. 

68

2. Meetings and conversations with colleagues in front of the paintings or other activities that led to 

discussions, interviews and activities. These conversations were filmed, recorded and entered into the 

computer. 

Observations 

1. Work journals compiled during the work, in methodological pauses and afterwards. 

2. Photographs I took at different stages of the work. Photographs of projects and activities with 

colleagues, related to the work. 

Reviewing Documents 

The documents are non-fieldwork products which are relevant to the case, reinforce and support it. 

1. Self-portraits painted about 17 years earlier. 

2. Personal journals from the start of the research to its end. 

3. Creative work derived from the study’s self-portraits, made for exhibitions and other projects. 

An inventory of all the data 

• Self-portraits made of different materials, in different sizes and techniques. 

• Creative works and actions derived and developed from the original self-portraits (objects, 

installations, exhibitions, computer processing). 

• Self-portraits painted in the past. 

• Personal journals, Work journals. 

• Photographs of works of art in process. 

• Discussions, interviews and activities with colleagues. 

• Video documentation and recording of working with colleagues. 

An Alternative Data Pool 

In Section 5.1 above I describe how the research developed and mention two encounters with 

colleagues that grew out of this development. These encounters were followed by conversations, 

projects, suggestions for ways to analyse data. The materials were collected because they developed 

naturally out of the investigation and because "everything is data" (Glaser, 2002). I include all these 

secondary products as an 'alternative data pool'. 

The meetings with these colleagues yielded new and different ways to read the paintings. More and 

different substance and meaning were added, thus making the 'story of the painting' more profound. 

More means and methods for analysing the paintings were obtained. This aspect is innovative, because 

the main challenge is to analyse one field of art with the help of another. This is, by itself, is an 

69

interesting topic for another research study. Further material about these encounters and the research 

approach can be found in the appendices to this study (Appendix – 1). 

5.3.1 Organising the Data 

Once assembled, I organised and classified the data both to serve the aims of analysis and to help me 

locate information (Shkedi, 2003). This process included mapping, marking, grouping and defining. 

Shkedi (2003) differentiates between primary sources of information, given directly by informants, and 

secondary sources not directly obtained from informants. On this basis, I divided my data into two 

orders, groups and sub-groups (see Table 1). 

Order I: Visual data produced in the field according to the definition of the research's boundaries. 

a) Original self-portraits produced during the period defined as the period of this research. 

b) Original self-portraits and other works of art derived from the original painting, made during the 

defined research period. 

Order II: Verbal data, by-products created during the period of the research, such as different types of 

documentation, reflections, inputs from co-opted participants. Also supporting materials and documents, 

produced in other periods but relevant to the subject of this research. 

1. Work journals. 

2. Personal Journals. 

3. Self-portraits made in the past. 

4. Analysis of paintings with colleagues - the 'alternatives' 

5. Documentation – recording materials, video films and photographs. 

70

Table 1: Data Classification into Orders, Groups and Sub-Groups 

Group D 

Exhibition 

D1 

'self- portrait' 

installations 

D2 

Group C 

Computer 

Process 

products 

C1 

Alternative 

Data 

Pool 

Psycho-drama 

activity 

C2(a) 

Movement 

Language 

C2(b) 

Group B 

Paintings 

Drawings 

B1(a) 

Coloured 

Paintings 

B1(b) 

Exceptional 

paintings 

B1(c) 

Sketch book 

B1(d) 

Previous 

paintings 

B2 

71 

Group A 

Objects 

Book object 

A1(a) 

Installation I 

A1(b) 

Installation II 

A1(c) 

Journals 

Work Journals 

A2(a) 

Personal 

Journals 

A2(b) 

Other Papers 

A2(c) 

O 

R 

D 

E 

R 

1 

O 

R 

D 

E 

R 

2 

Groups 

Orders

In Case - study research, one can choose from a number of cases to study one representative case, 

that is, the selected case represents all the data (Yosiphon, 2002). After organising, classifying and 

dividing the data into groups, I chose the 'Book Object' (A1 (a)) as the unit found most suitable to 

represent all my data as well as the research subject. This 'Book Object' was produced and collected in 

the field and so is defined as a datum. It was identified as representative of the Intertextuality and, 

interdisciplinary research subject with para-textual and intra-textual tendencies, and defined as a super- 

finding (see Part II - Introduction). 


5.4.1 Content Analysis 

Charmaz and Glaser held a discussion in the Forum for Qualitative Social Research online journal. 

Charmaz (2000) objects to Glaser's radicalism, which in her opinion, works against the constructivist 

qualitative idea. In her view, the essence of the grounded theory approach is the structured and 

systematic system of analysis which makes it possible to present and analyse rich and complex data on 

a given phenomenon and develop a theory, without the need for generalisation or abstraction. Glaser 

(2002) defines the Charmaz approach as Qualitative Data Analysis (QDA) intended to provide a focused 

description. Shkedi (2003) leans towards Charmaz's approach and suggests a data analysis method 

borrowed from Grounded - theory techniques. Glazer defines it as 'Content analysis' and suggests four 

continuous and clear stages. The researcher can decide to end at the third stage, at which he presents 

a full and complex description of the data, or go on to the fourth stage and present an explanatory 

theory. In any case, Shkedi (2003) points out, this method by demonstrating structure, logic, system and 

clarity, shows that qualitative research can act in a scientific manner. 

Shkedi (2003) proposes two possible approaches to content analysis, "thematic analysis and structural 

analysis" (p. 93). In the present study, the language of the text is one of shapes and symbols, and so I 

suggest a third form of analysis― visual structural analysis― which includes both structural and 

thematic aspects but adds visual form. What Shkedi (2003) calls 'content analysis' I term– for this study 

– the 'categorical content analysis of visual means'. The categories will be the building blocks of the 

analysis and are defined in a hermeneutic inquiry’s first ‘structural’ stage (See Section 5.2.2 (a)). This is 

the stage which seeks inner logic in a text, when all the categories must be meaningful in respect of the 

data. This is the stage that generates factual findings. In the second stage the researcher tries to 

integrate the various categories and give them meaning (Shkedi, 2003). At this stage I introduce the 

intertextual approach enlarges the analysis options and ways of interpretation. 

72

5.4.2 Intertextuality 

Intertextuality’s earliest and the most prominent formalisers were Kristeva (1989), Derrida (2002), Lacan 

(2003), Foucault (1986, 2005) and Barthes (2007). These Post-structuralism philosophers claim that text 

(as an object) need not be taken as, in itself, a firm statement to be accepted and which adds to 

knowledge, nor need it be interpreted solely in relation to the writer's intentions. "It must be possible to 

dismantle and examine the text while considering other texts, the reality it influences and is influenced 

by, the meanings that readers find in it" (Shlasky and Alpert, 2007: 48). Says Lemert "Texts are a game 

in an open field, forever unending , a field they create and are created by, and in which they have to be 

interpreted" (quoted in Shlasky and Alpert, 2007: 48). Texts exist by dint of the interpretation accorded 

them, and change accordingly (Shlasky and Alpert, 2007), so that a text will never have a single, 

permanent and unequivocal meaning, and there are no rules that dictate the interpretation or limit it. The 

text is reader-dependent, a reader who is considered to be a performing artist (Zoran, 2000), without 

whom there is no text (Barthes, 2007). 

For me as a researcher who wishes to read the text interpretatively, this post-structuralist approach 

created a wide opening. I wanted to add it as a second component of my analysis model, though I must 

point out that Intertextual interpretation is based on its own, typical, mode of analysis. 

The word 'Intertextuality' means that there are signals from one system of signs to another. This term 

was first coined by Kristeva (1989) to describe texts as sign systems which are not "closed" but hover 

above other sign systems. According to Kristeva, every word has endless potential connections, and 

every text represents the assimilation and transformation of earlier texts. The texts hold dialogues with 

each other, creating an endless mosaic of connections. 'Conversing texts' are the essence 

Intertextuality. In the past they were confined to literature and art but today they encompass all our 

cultural encounters (Elkad-Lehman, 2006). The 'conversing texts' can be from different authors or from 

the same one (Shaked, 1989, 1993). The dialogue between texts is a two-way, interdisciplinary process 

(Kristeva, 1989) intermingling texts from literature, painting, theatre and other sources and there is no 

significance to what was written earlier or later (Shkolnikov, 1999). 

Kristeva (1989) emphasises that among the references, hints and components that permeate the text, 

or peek out of it, there are also the experiences and emotions of the writer, his soul. Intertextual 

interpretative reading is an approach that takes an old text, shakes it up and creates a new text, one out 

of the other. It breathes new life into the old text and also enables the revelation of the subconscious 

intentions of the text itself, which has no knowledge of what it contains (Azulay, 2006). 

There three kinds of affinity between texts (Genette, 1997) 

73

Para-textuality –all that is intended to affect the attitude of the potential reader, before he has read it, 

and in the way he absorbs the text after reading it. It includes the name of the author, his reputation, the 

name of the book, the chapter titles, the dedication, design and binding, colours, pictures etc., 

knowledge about the publisher, the description of the book on the cover, interviews with the writer, 

advertising information and so on. 

Intra-textual relations – relations made on the boundaries of the text itself, i.e. the inner affinity 

between one component of the text and another. 

Extra-textual relations –the relations between the text and what is outside it, context, historical 

discourse, general and cultural knowledge (Elkad-Lehman, 2006). 

The features of intertextual analysis and of the creative process are identical. They are: Condensation, 

Displacement, and Representation by Opposites, Multidetermination (or Over-determination), 

Concretisation, Context Creation, Association and Intuition. In the creative process these features occur 

in any case but in investigative analysis they appear consciously, from choice. 

Condensation: The merging of several cognitive elements – images, ideas - into one image or idea. It 

happens in both verbal and visual language. It is not bound to the laws of reality and logic, and is 

therefore free "to take any parts of images, bits of ideas and segments of experiences, and re-assemble 

the images, words and expressions essential for the artist and his needs" (Noy 1999: 133). 

Displacement: One or more elements are extracted from their original context and transferred to 

another, seemingly unrelated, context. Such an element can be an image, object, picture, or word. A 

typical example of displacement is the metaphor, symbol or allegory, which transfers an idea to a 

completely different context. 

Representation by Opposites (inversion): The representation of anything by its opposite, or treating 

the opposite as if it were the thing itself. There is no recognition of contrasts, contradictions, no 

differentiation between yes and no, early and late, front and back or upsides and downsides. 

Overdetermination, Multidetermination: Most images, exhibits, experiences, emotions or ideas can 

be understood in several ways, and hence several levels of association can be integrated. Deploying 

multiple meanings "enables one to interpret what is said in many different ways, so that every reader 

can find in it the meaning that he is seeking… the creative artist will always chose to use symbols, 

metaphors and other means of expression with the largest number of meanings to make it possible to 

interpret his work in different ways, so that every cultural group and historical era will find in it its own 

significance" (Noy 1999: 160). 

Concretisation: A typically primary mental process that, by its nature, tends to present its products in a 

concrete manner, as visual images, and translate all abstract material into tangible representations. 

Concretisations are present in language, in words and word combinations in which the interpretations 

74

need translocations and metaphors. The ability to concretise the abstract "changes ordinary expression 

into a work of art" (Noy, 1999: 170). 

Creating Contexts: or 'sliding', the ability "to choose and explain familiar information from a new angle" 

(Noy, 1999: 228). Enables a viewer to reorganise previously known information in new ways. 

The Associative Move: The ability to create original and unexpected, associative, combinations. "The 

end product will be more creative the further the elements of the new combination are from each other" 

(Mednick, 1962, quoted in Noy, 1999: 233). 

Intuition: Different from rational thinking, it originates in the subconscious (Noy, 1999). Intuition is "a 

basic intellectual activity that produces logical or verbal understanding" (Langer, 1975: 66) and acts "in 

an alternative and mysterious mental channel" (Noy, 1999: 246). It acts from "an inner or outer, 

unknown, voice which is directed clearly and precisely towards a solution (Noy, 1999: 245). “There is 

hardly a work of art the total significance of which can be understood and interpreted by cognitive and 

rational perception only, without intuitional perception" (p. 81). 

Shkolnikov (1999) states that Intertextuality wishes to destroy the structuralist approach, and enable 

mobility, bi-directionality, timelessness and interdisciplinary movement. I have chosen this approach not 

to destroy the structuralist approach, but to add to it. I consider the interpretative process a creative 

process and therefore the intertextual approach adds the dimension of primary mental activity. Primary 

and secondary medical activity together increase the understanding, knowledge and quality of a 

product, as Noy (1999) says: " When dealing with creativity in art or science, primary mental processes 

which penetrate into the rational mental processes contribute to the quality and level of performance of 

the mind" (p. 264). 

I set out here the reasons why I think that the intertextual approach suits and contributes to data 

analysis in my research: 

1. It was developed chiefly for art and literature (Elkad-Lehman, 2006). 

2. The visual object chosen as the 'central unit if analysis' is an intratextual and interdisciplinary 

text, embodying para-textual tendencies, both intra-textual and extra-textual. 

3. I aspire to profound and far-reaching interpretations. 

4. It permits me to relate to each significant unit (each category) as a textual unit that conducts 

multi-directional dialogues with other units. 

5. It enables me to conduct inter-textual dialogue among the data themselves ('conversing texts' 

are possible even when the texts belong to the same author (Shkolnikov, 1999)). 

75

6. It allows me to conduct a dialogue between data of different orders and periods. 

7. It allows connections between the written and visual, inside the text or outside it. 

8. It does not reject the hidden presence of the writer's soul but allows communication with it and 

so can expose hidden meanings which extend the text. 

9. It embraces subjective, associative, subconscious and creative aspects. Combining this 

approach with the structured and logical method of analysis enables me to create a complete 

structure for the destructuring and analysis of a work of art. 

10. It embraces and encourages creative thinking. 

Table 2 below summarises the characteristics of the approach, its criteria, and modes of thinking and 

means of identification. This table answers in brief questions such as: what are the rules and criteria for 

this interpretative reading? Which features of the text enable this reading? How can one identify 

intertextuality? What is it possible, right and permissible to do in intertextuality? 

76

Para-textuality - 

Table 2: The Components of and Intertextual Analysis and Interpretation 

Criteria and features 

of Intertextuality 

previous effects of the text itself 

Intra-textuality- 

inner ties between hidden texts in a given 

text 

Extra-textuality- 

visible ties to adjacent texts 

Interdisciplinary 

correspondence 

Dialogue between texts of same author or 

creator 

In Art – Dialogues between works of art 

and exhibition 

Two-directional – one text interprets the 

other 

Bi-polarity – no fixed timetable 

Two-way movement – in and out text 

Ideological, social cultural contexts in and 

out of text 

Psychological context relating to the 

writer's mind 

Means of 

Identification 

reminders, exact 

quotations 

linguistic hints 

Faulty quotations 

Images and 

metaphors 

Hinted referrals 

Distant echoes 

Reminders 

appear as motifs 

Visual motifs 

77 

Mental processes 

involved in 

Intratextual 


creative thinking 

enhanced 

thinking 

associative ties 

Intuitive discoveries 

Subjective 

involvement 

Thickening, 

displacement, multiple 

meanings 

interpretive 

Value 

constructing meanings 

Expanding the 

meanings of the text 

intensifying 

the text 

Re-creation and 

refreshing old texts 

Identifying Hidden and 

sub-conscious meaning

Diagram 7 sets out the data analysis process: 

Diagram 7: Schema of the Data Analysis Process 

Units of construction 

(Categories 

and their properties 

Category I 

Category II 

Central analysing unit: 

Interdisciplinary, Intertextual 

text 

Structural analysis of 

Visual means 

Category III 

78 

Datum for analysis: 

The visual text (work of art) 

Outer texts, 

references, hints, 

citations, 

events etc 

Substance: 

Intertextual analysis 

and interpretation 

Alternative 

Data Pool


5.5.1 On Truth and Art 

Nietzsche said that art was given to us so that we do not collapse under the burden of truth. It saves us 

from the truth (Golomb 2008). The implication is that the power of art is in creating its own truth. Does 

the artist search for any kind of truth? And what is the role of art in relation to reality? 

Shoshani (2002) says that the aims of art are clarified in the process of creating. The artist strives "to 

reach recognition of the visible via the act that makes the visible appear on canvas" (Lefort, 2004: 25). 

In every painting a new truth shows itself to the artist, who is also discovering himself. Thus each 

painting is a new truth that undermines the status of the former truth. "The works of art that the artist 

produces creates a new truth, different, which become a truth by itself" (Lorand, 1991: 44). A different 

discourse deals with the 'representation of reality', examining the obligations that art and the artist have 

to reality. This question is relevant here because I have stated that I paint self-portraits in front of a 

mirror. Looking back, one can see that self-portraits have had different roles at different times in history. 

West (2004) gives examples of the self-portrait as signature, as experiment and publicity, as gender and 

artistic identity, as self-presentation, autobiography, exploration and psychoanalysis. The roles depend 

on the period, style, and the specific needs of the artist. I will focus on the category that presents self- 

portraits as a kind of reproduction of reality. The history of art is full of portraits and self-portraits, whose 

main role was to act as a camera. My saying that I paint my self-portraits in front of a mirror might 

mislead the reader to think that my aim is to look at reality as reflected in the mirror, copy it and present 

a realistic description of facial features, to create on canvas an illusion of reality. 

But this is not the case. My self-portraits do not proceed from an intention to create something true to 

nature, nor to represent reality by copying. The way I look at reality is mine, just as the language of art is 

the language of the inner self. My means of expression were chosen by me. My painting is my 

"complementary interpretation" of the potential materials of reality, as Lorand puts it (1991). The 

approach that guides me is that "faithfulness to facts is not a necessary demand of art" (Lorand, 1991: 

134). "The decisive consideration is what will be more appropriate, will highlight the essential, what will 

make it possible to create the impression of the necessary" (p. 41). The artist is committed to his inner 

rather than to an external reality. The artist observes his physical image but sees his mental image. 

Tress-Zuckerman (1999) says of the Expressionists: "The Expressionist school was probably the first 

that allowed itself to deviate from reality, in order to instil in it life of its own. Without any fear, this school 

opened a window to the creative laboratory and immortalised the creative processes in the work of art 

itself. It paved the way to that fertile deformation of reality… Expressionist works are still realistic; so to 

speak, but already full of imagination out of this world" (p.192). The Expressionist artist wants "to cut the 

79

tangible and in this way discover something from the tangible" (Golan, 2002: 159). Lucian Freud says: 

"I would like my portraits to be about people, not like people, without the gaze of the model, having their 

own existence. As far as I am concerned, the paint is the man. I want it to work for me just as flesh 

works" (quoted in Golan, 200: 161). 

One cannot compare the reliability of portraits with the face in a photograph. Their reliability is in the 

execution and their credibility is in the number of variations that will emerge from continuous occupation 

with the subject. I will sum up with a quotation by Picasso. When he showed his portrait of Gertrude 

Stein to a group of his artist friends, they said that she did not look like that. To which he replied: "But 

she will look like this" (Stassinopoulos-Huffington, 1989: 54). 

5.5.2 Truth in Qualitative Research 

Unlike positivist research, qualitative research does not seek one, single and absolute truth. As the artist 

wishes to present the essence of things (Lorand, 1991), so qualitative research searches for the 

significance of things (Shkedi, 2003), a significance that is created by the encounter between the 

investigating subject and the investigated object (Levi, 1986). This interaction influences the truth 

revealed (Geldman, 2006). It creates significance, not a final truth. 

The post-structuralist approach and intertextual interpretation used in this research are strongly 

opposed to the "passion for truth", and claim that there is no room for such a desire. They view the 

passion for truth as a murderous fanaticism, a kind of violence that turns into a drive for aggression and 

tyranny (Geldman, 2006). The post-modern answer to the search for truth is "perspective, multi-faced, 

fragmented, kaleidoscopic and changing frequently" (Geldman, 2006: 17). 

Shlasky and Ariali (2002) explain that knowledge and truth are not discovered by man but created by 

him, since "reality is multi-faced and can be moulded and changed, and, contrary to what our common 

sense tells us, no real world exists prior to the mental activity of man and the symbolic human language, 

nor does it depend on them" (p. 52). A researcher’s interpretation depends on coincidences which 

develop in place and time (p. 52). Since man is the criterion of things, many, individual, truths are 

possible (Cohen, 2007). 

When I come to paint my portrait in words and obtain the story of the painting, and even when I declare 

that I conduct a self-investigation, I am not committed to any kind of truth. The actual truth is the search 

for it. Whatever is discovered during the interpretative process is the painting’s narrative. This is the 

truth at the time. One might say perhaps that just as the search for truth is the truth (Cohen, 2007), so, 

the self-investigation process is the story of the 'self'. 

80

5.5.3 Reliability and Validity 

The inner truth of art concerns the ways its research is conducted. What is the responsibility of the 

researcher? In what ways should I act so as to obtain a product or text with an inner truth?" (Shlasky 

and Alpert, 2007: 25). This brings us to a discussion of the terms - truthfulness, reliability and validity. 

Reliability in qualitative research is a question of its research tools. The term truthfulness is taken from 

the positivist paradigm and is not appropriate, we have noted, for constructivist research. Qualitative 

research has its own vocabulary of terms in this matter. In qualitative research, the researcher is the 

main research tool. Sound, transparent management of the research is what makes him truthful. This 

starts with his expertise in collecting data and the way these are classified, clustered and organised. 

The task of the researcher is to convince the reader that his data collection and management are 

reliable. Therefore the term 'dependability' has been suggested (Yosiphon, 2002) as a replacement for 

‘reliability'. Dependability and transparency require that the researcher "while analysing the data, must 

conduct repeated tests; must re-examine the categorisation of the data; must conduct a triangulation 

analysis; must find contexts and connections" (Yosiphon, 2002: 277). 

The term 'validity' in its positivist understanding has undergone changes in adjusting to the nature of 

qualitative research. Qualitative research is not expected to produce valid predictions of behaviour but 

only understanding and interpretation of it. One of the ways to achieve this is 'thick description' (Geertz, 

1973) This means that the more skilled the researcher is, the more he furnishes abundant, deep and 

inclusive description, the more valid his work will be (Shlasky and Alpert, 2007). In the present study 

'deep interpretation' is equivalent to the term 'thick description'. 

Internal validity is also defined as 'trustworthiness', and is concerned with the compatibility between 

the patterns and explanations produced from descriptive materials (Yin, 1989). In order to create 

internal validity I chose a structured and precise method of analysis borrowed from grounded theory. Its 

systematic alignment of interpretive categories produces dependability and internal validity. 

External validity is the 'transferability' of a study’s findings to other contexts. This validity is achieved 

when the researcher identifies patterns he has exposed and attributes significance to them (Lincoln and 

Guba, 1985). For this purpose I added the intertextual approach which enables me to triangulate 

between data of different orders, groups and categories. 

The use of an alternative data pool and second-order data also helped validate the primary data, 

triangulate them and create thick description. Triangulation is a method of examining the research 

object – a single and stable phenomenon – from various angles and with different tools (Shkedi, 2003). 

Richardson (1997, 2000) proposes the 'crystal' method as another path to validation. She describes it as 

a multi-dimensional rather than ‘triangular’ method. It is a complex way of observation: "The crystal 

81

grows and is changed, but is not shapeless. Crystals are prisms that reflect outwards but also refract 

into themselves, creating colours, patterns and various representations which are sent in different 

directions. What we observe depends on our position" (quoted in Shlasky and Alpert, 2007: 62). This 

approach suits the post-structuralist approach and mixed-genre texts which interweave writing and 

research processes. The combination I propose between approaches and methods, and especially the 

intertextual approach, is equivalent to the crystal method of validation. 

5.5.4 Issues in Qualitative Research Raised by this Study 

Since the time I chose self-portraiture as my research project I realised I had to set boundaries to it. 

I limited the research environment, determining that my studio would be my permanent place of work. 

I allotted a two-year period in which I would focus exclusively on self-portraiture and that I would always 

paint in front of a mirror. I was punctilious in the reflective process, photographing the stages of the work 

and maintaining both a 'Work Journal' and a 'Personal Journal'. However, setting boundaries to the 

research raised two basic questions: 

1. How is it possible to produce works of art, knowing in advance that they will be researched? 

Is there no risk of bias in the investigation? 

2. How can I set limits to an artistic process? Does this not damage the freedom of creation and its 

natural flow? After all, this research is dependent first of all on creating and producing artistic 

products. 

Question 1: For this research study I produce contents (paintings) but that is not what I investigate. 

The objective of the research is to find a means to release the created contents and not investigate 

them as such. Therefore there is no fear of bias. Whatever my intentions are when I produce the 

contents, they will, in any case, not influence the investigation because they themselves are not what is 

being investigated. The painting is a painting and my role is to decode it. It is not a question of truth. 

I have emphasised that the main interest of this study is the means and integrity of its investigation. Its 

contribution to knowledge rests in its methodology and the materials produced with this methodology. 

One might say that if the research question is a 'how' question, then methodology and its products are 

its ‘true’ answers. 

Question 2: I know from prior experience that the creating and setting of boundaries is autonomic and 

functions of its own, inner and necessary force (Kandinsky, 1984). "Art expresses intuition; intuition is 

spontaneous, does not originate in any considerations and does not reflect any kind of free choice" 

(Lorand, 1991: 132). The intuitive forces that work during the creative act are unavoidable and function 

on their own track, confirms Launger (1976). Consequently one can rely on the force of the creative 

82

process. The limits of the research will guard and channel the research process and enable it to 

proceed reliably, not harming, and not harmed by, the creative processes. 

A third issue is the relative roles of objectivity and subjectivity in this study: Subjectivity is the 

element in qualitative research that stands against the "fiction of objectivity" (Breuer and Mruck, 2002). 

Qualitative researchers base their ideas on the claim that "One cannot separate researcher from 

research object, nor can the researcher take an objective stand vis-à-vis the phenomenon" (Guba and 

Lincoln, 1998). The observer is both part of what is observed and separate from it. What the observer 

sees will shape what he defines, measures and analyses (Charmaz, 2000) and the same is true for 

interpretation: "Interpretation is always a subjective act depending on the researcher's intuition, his 

personal experience, values and normative inclinations […] which cannot be erased" (Shlasky and 

Ariali, 2002: 41). Hazan (2002) describes this situation as one of "double consciousness: awareness of 

the field of research and at the same time self-awareness … We have a unique investigative experience 

and justifying its existence is the [researcher’s] claim to know the authentic, special and unique features 

of the field being investigated " (quoted in Sabar, 2002: 10). 

Lorand (1991) drawing on Plato, Aristotle and Kant, argues that "The emotive and the cognitive are 

different strata or aspects in the phenomenon called art […] the total separation between the emotive 

and the cognitive is mistaken" (p.137). Scharfstein (1989) emphasises this point: "Art has never been, 

and cannot be completely subjective, nor can it be totally objective, but is an integration of the two. Its 

objective aspects derive from the psychological and biological imaging that exists among humans [….], 

the subjective aspects of art are of course concealed in the ability of art to clearly express the nature of 

the individual and arouse the clearly subjective reactions of others. I have no doubt that the objective 

and subjective … need each other so as not to lose the intensity they are capable of reaching" (p. 202). 

I maintain that the objective and subjective indeed co-exist but that one can also separate them and 

examine them at specific points. A work of art does indeed hold a subjective load. At the same time, the 

activity that the artist has to carry out in order to express his subjective world demands of him objective 

preparations. Storr (1991) explains it thus: "Description of anything in the outer world whether by 

painting, drawing, sculpture or words, demands that a certain distance separate the artist from the 

object he is trying to describe" (p.163). “The subject can detach himself from himself and the 

surrounding world so that he can observe his own emotions objectively and form symbolic images from 

reality” (p.161). The language of art, which is also the language of the individual and the soul, is what 

provides man with a tool that "grants" him a feeling that he controls the things from which he separates 

and detaches himself (Storr, 1991: 162). 

In my research, I wish to expand the opening created by qualitative research on the issue of subjectivity 

and objectivity and rely on the qualitative research genres of 'practitioner research' and 'self-study 

83

esearch'. Even though subjectivity is a declared element of qualitative research, yet I take the risk of 

pushing the borders of subjectivity to the limit. Although in one way this creates a weakness, in another 

it pinpoints the challenge this study must find the answer to. 

Noy (1999) explains that a creative thinking process is composed of two essentially different modes of 

thinking, conscious and unconscious, which combine to generate a work of art. Correspondingly, there 

are two modes of mental processing, the primary and the secondary. The primary mental processes 

"include all the kinds of mental activities – thinking, imagination, emotion, dreaming – which combine the 

objective and the subjective and are controlled by a constancy beyond logic” (p.102). The primary 

processes are the fuel that sets in motion the engine of artistic creativity and provides "the raw materials 

for the work of art" (ibid). They are subconscious and directed primarily at the 'self' and the subject's 

inner world. They tend to translate all "abstract thinking into tangible representations" (p.161). Their 

mode of organisation, their way of collecting materials, creating a context, their associations and choice 

of symbols, the mechanism of all these is different to that of rational, conscious thinking. 

The secondary mental processes represent "rational and objective thinking, controlled by the laws of 

logic" (Noy, 1999; 90). They are logical, organised, refined and sophisticated (p.96). They "serve, and 

are adapted to, all the functions that are reality-oriented' (p.121)."The activity of these processes is 

conscious, therefore they are exposed to the possibilities of observation, planning, learning and 

criticism" (p.171). They “tend to translate and represent any tangible material […] into abstract 

representations" (p.161). 

In the creative process, these two modes of thought work parallel to each other. They enrich and 

influence each other and develop simultaneously but separately. Their interaction is what creates the 

special magic of art. They run parallel to my 'chain of observations'. The 'artistic activity' stage 

represents the primary mental processes and the investigation stage represents the secondary mental 

processes. The analysis and interpretation stages are also combines these two mental processes. 


5.6.1 Researching Oneself 

My research raises special ethical issues because I am the central and only figure in it. 

In Chapter 3, Section 3.1, The Voice of the Investigator, I quote Laughlin (1995) as encouraging the 

investigator to be 'narcissistic' and make his private voice heard. Laughlin challenges the norms which 

laud self-effacement, that it is not appropriate for man to be occupied with himself and talk in the first 

person singular. Here I discuss this issue not as a technical question but as a moral and ethical one. 

84

Is it appropriate for a researcher to investigate himself, on his own? Here I examine this issue from the 

point of view of behavioural philosophy, which considers the place of the subject, his importance and 

significance in relation to himself and to the world. I justify myself by drawing on a theory of the 

philosopher Emmanuel Levinas (in Schonfeld 2007), but first I quote from Landman (1980): "… every 

man must be proudly aware of his individuality, nurture it and under no circumstance subjugate it to the 

benefit of general man. It, alone, gives life and colour to his being human. At the same time he must be 

aware of the fact that his individuality is only one of countless others that have equal rights, and that we 

can find a common human entity in other individualities" (p. 29). 

Levinas defined his philosophy as the 'phenomenology of the face'. He wishes to bring the subject back 

to centre-stage, this in a post-structuralist era when the subject has been moved away from the centre. 

In his opinion, the subject is all, from the particular subject one learns about the general. He argues 

against contemporary Heideggerian philosophy, which is "the philosophy of death: death of God as well 

as death of man; the end of metaphysics as well as the end of the subject" (Schonfeld, 2007: 15). 

Heideggerian philosophy gives pride of place to holism, universality and conceptualism, wishes to 

reduce the individual to a concept, and "wants to perceive the singular in the light of the general" (p. 22). 

It refuses to reserve a place for subjectivity, declaring that the individual is the general […], and for the 

individual to be an individual, he must be universal […] and relinquish his individuality (p. 23). Levinas 

"looks for the meaning of subjectivity" (Schonfeld 2007: 19). If humanity is seen as a universal idea, he 

says, in which every one has to find his place, then "as a matter of fact there is no room there for 

anyone" (p. 19). He considers this approach a kind of violence and tyranny. 

Opposing this, he argues that the way to learn about the world, the general and the other must be by 

giving prominence to the individual. He returns to existential ideas and the Cartesian 'cogito', 

reinterprets "I think, therefore I am" as emphasising not the act of thinking but the thinking body. 

Thought itself is not proof of existence but the thinking individual is: "There is a first person singular, in 

the present time, which means that I am a thinking entity" (p. 35). Man is a physical entity, a being 

among beings. Existence is physical, and this is the starting point to knowing the individual, and thence 

to knowing the world. The whole is more than the sum of its parts. He describes the intersubjective 

encounter as "singularity facing singularity" (Schonfeld, 2007: 90). According to Schonfeld, The 

amassing thing is that the encounter with the other enables the individual to emerge from engrossment 

with himself, recognise his own existence as well as the existence of the other. 

Levinas’ theory connects directly with topics I raise in my study. For instance, when I present my 

research as a 'Case - study', with myself as the single ‘case’, I quote Yosiphon to the effect that "what 

we learn from a Case - study derives from its uniqueness" (Yosiphon, 2002: 268). I quote Lacan (in 

Vanier, 2003) on the "mirror stage" in human development, when the child learns to know himself 

85

through his reflected image. I quote Kohut (2005) saying that the 'other self' teaches the individual about 

his own existence, through another image (reflected in the mirror). 

5.6.2 When the Researcher is the Researched: Informed Consent 

One of the central topics with which research ethics deal is the relationship between the researcher and 

researched. The researcher must guard the rights of the researched to privacy, ensure 'informed 

consent' and so on. So what is the significance of this when I am both researcher and researched? 

What are the ethics of such a situation? How much should be exposed? And what happens to the 

exposed truth? How to bridge the gap between the benefits of the research and the protection of the 

researched? The creative process at its best removes barriers. I embark on an investigation knowing in 

advance that I am to undergo a process of exposure. How can one prepare oneself ethically for this? 

I know that investigation of the inner self via the language of art will bring up to the light materials from 

the subconscious and the depths of my soul. I know that the aim of the study is to expose these 

contents and interpret them. Hence, the very declaration of the research goals implies informed 

consent. My research design, the way I place myself in different situations, all these constitute informed 

consent. However, knowing that materials and interpretations will have to be exposed, I nonetheless do 

not know what these will be for. Unlike positivist research, here there is no initial hypothesis. In the case 

of this study, informed consent is consent without much information. 

For this very reason qualitative researchers (Smith, 1990, Sabar, 2002) suggest a broadening of the 

concept of informed consent to include ongoing dialogue over the findings between the researcher and 

researched, on the basis of mutual trust, consideration and respect. However, I do not intend to avail 

myself of this option. Knowing that personal and revealing things may well come up, I give myself no 

option of reconsidering. Rather, I consider the declared methodology a kind of written commitment. 

I have chosen this route precisely because I am both researcher and researched, and because of an 

ethical intention not to defend my materials by a one-sided protective mechanism which might harm the 

investigation. I accept the products and data as they are and this I define as both 'informed and 

conscious consent'. 

5.6.3 Commitment to the Reader 

I make a second commitment too ― to the reader, who must be convinced that I have acted impeccably 

(Shlasky and Alpert, 2007). I have to demonstrate coherence, consistency, transparency and full 

compliance with the research goals in both data collection and presentation. I have gone into this issue 

in Section 4.5 on Reliability and Validity. There I set out the ways the data are collected, organised, 

86

classified and managed. I discuss issues relating to the tension between freedom of creation and the 

boundaries of the research. I affirm that the self-portraits come accompanied by personal and work 

journals and other materials which allow the reader to follow all steps in the research procedure. All 

these are proof of my integrity of commitment, including the fact that I have chosen a methodology that 

neutralises my subjectivity to some degree. 

5.6.4 Products and Copyrights 

Having agreed that researcher has a duty to his readers, I follow this with my opinion that he also has a 

duty to protect his own rights in his products. The products are paintings and their interpretation, both of 

which in one way or another tell my personal story. 

Israel’s Basic Law on the protection of privacy states that privacy is harmed by, among other acts…" 

Making use of knowledge about a person's affairs or passing on this knowledge to someone else for a 

purpose other than that for which it was given, publishing what concerns a person's private life". At first 

glance there is a contradiction. I declare that I regard myself as having given informed consent that I 

consider this my contribution to knowledge, and I am aware that the aim of research is to publish new 

knowledge. Yet I adduce a law that sets protections around my privacy. I have stated that I do not avail 

myself of the option of “ongoing dialogue over the findings between researcher and researched” and I 

am not reneging on this commitment. But I do wish to activate it after the research has been completed 

and handed over. In view of the unpredictable sensitivity of the materials this research may produce I 

want to maintain my right to limit the level of exposure of the completed thesis. In this matter Lincoln 

and Guba (1990) lay it down that advancing public knowledge and the drive to discover the truth do not 

allow one to harm an individual's rights. Even when the knowledge is there and has been documented 

there are still ethical laws that guard the rights of the individual. 

The same is true with regard to copyrights. Copyright law says: "Guarding copyrights and property rights 

limits, by its nature, free accessibility to the contents, information and works of art"…The owner has the 

only right to produce or copy a creation or considerable parts thereof in any way, lecture about it or 

parts of it in public, publish a creation that has not yet been published, including the right to translate, 

adapt, record or film it, as well as giving permission for any of these acts" (Ethics, Para. B, 1911). Is 

there a contradiction between guarding copyrights and the researcher's wish to contribute to 

knowledge? The answer is in the law itself: "Copyright does not contradict publishing the creation. The 

creation will be published, will say something new and contribute to knowledge, but it will be the 

intellectual property of its owner. Copyright is granted automatically to a creation under the following 

87

conditions: originality, tangibility, the way ideas are expressed…" It is clear that there is no contradiction 

between the wish to publish and the wish to protect the published material. 

Summary 

The methodology is a vital component of this study. The aims of the three stages in this study’s 

research design are to learn and reveal the meaning of drawing a self-portrait. I set up a research 

domain, a 'Case study' and chose the research approach of Grounded - theory in order to discover what 

happens and what is contained in self-portraiture. The key to understanding the phenomenon of the 

self-portrait is the decoding and interpretation of the finished works. Contemplating the paintings as 

products of self-investigation to be interpreted created a gap in knowledge from which emerged the 

research question. It was a question that called for qualitative research as a paradigm which perceives 

the researcher as an element of the environment of the research object. This was the interpretive 

context for my aim to turn a visual text into a verbal text. 

I designed the methodology in accordance with the boundaries of the research and the limitations and 

aspirations of my being both artist and researcher. I looked for a way to combine art, artistic activity, 

creativity and research. And the research method I present here preserves and strengthens the logical, 

methodical and scientific aspect and enables as subject to maintain some degree of distance. The 

method rests on a method of content analysis borrowed from Grounded - theory, to which I added 

intertextual analysis and interpretation rooted in the first content analysis and allowing me to interpret 

creatively, broadly and deeply. 

This encounter of art and research embraces a second encounter between two forms of analysis and 

interpretation which represent the two mental processes which make up artistic creation. The 

methodology provides a general answer to the research question and the particular research method 

developed is the practical and concrete answer to that same question. The two together provide the 

answer to the overarching question echoing around the 'self-portrait' ―Who am I? -- A question which 

requires self-study. 

88

PART Il 

THE INQUIRY: 

THE PORTRAIT AND THE ARTISTIC MEANS 


The 'Book Object' (Datum (A1 (a)), (Table 1, Chapter 5 -Methodology) has been chosen as the 'central 

unit of analysis' because: 

a. It is the one intrinsic, representative case that this 'Case Study' research method studies. 

b. It contains, in a concentrated manner, all the visual means which was analysed. 

c. It represents, in itself, the Intertextual Phenomenon. 

The 'Book Object' undergoes two stages of analysis. In Stage 1, it is defined as a 'Book Object' (see 

chapter 6), indicating that it belongs to a certain artistic genre. Classifying it thus changes it from a 

datum to a finding having a name and definition, hence a finding that has to be interpreted. But it 

continues to be a datum because it contains additional data to be analysed and interpreted later. Thus it 

is both a datum and a carrier of data and has several concurrent definitions. 

1. Datum – one of many produced and collected for research purposes, and so placed in the 

group of objects. 

2. A 'central unit of analysis'. 

3. Finding – a datum diagnosed as 'Book Object' in the ‘Genre and Style’ category. 

4. Super-finding – because it is a finding, and at the same time contains data which, after analysis, 

will also become findings. 

Every finding will be presented in the way it appears from the first stage of analysis, when it is defined 

according to the category to which it belongs. Second, comes the stage of Intertextual analysis and 

Interpretation, which expands both the finding and, later, the range of its interpretation. All factual 

findings will be combined with interpretation linked to relevant theories and literature which assist in the 

interpretation and makes the findings more meaningful. 

89

The first, structural stage of the study, an 'Intra -textual analysis', carried out a 'content analysis of 

artistic means'. Three categories of artistic means were identified: 'Genre and Style'; 'Visual Values; 

'Images with Contents'. 

Diagram 8 shows the ramification of these three categories into sub-categories. 

Diagram 8: Artistic Means: Tree of Categories 

A. 

Objects 

1. 

Style and 

Genre 

B. 

Genres 

A. 

Colour 

Artistic 

Means 

2. 

Visual Values 

B. 

Materials 

& Technique 

The third category in Diagram 8, 'Images with Contents', will in fact not be investigated by this study. 

The research aim is to present a particular interpretive method and to demonstrate how it functions and 

what it can produce; for this, the third category is unnecessary. Although analysing this category would 

increase and deepen the significance of the text, and even validate other ideas, space limitations do not 

permit it. The research is confined to the categories that give the necessary answers. References to 

Category 3's images will be made in the course of the Intertextual Interpretations. 

The diagrams of the internal structure of each of the three main categories in Diagram 8 are followed: 

90 

C. 

Organisation 

& 

Structure 

3. 

Images with 

Contents 

A. 

Portrait 

paintings 

B. 

Other 

Images

Diagram 8a (1): Style and Genre - Genres and Objects 

Installations 

Diagram 8a (2): Style and Genre - Image and writing 

1 

Image and 

Printed text 

Kinds of texts and 

images as motives 

Image and writing 

2 

Image 

interlaced 

with printed 

and hand- 

written texts 

Style & Genre 

a. Objects b. Genres 

Book-Object 

3 

Image and 

Hand- 

written texts 

Style & Genre 

91 

Image and 

writing 

4 

Image & 

glued texts 

4a 

Images and 

headlines. 

Ready-made

Diagram 8b (1): Visual Values - Colour 

. 3 

Diagram 8b (2): Visual Values - Materials & Technique 

1 

Drawing - 

Charcoal 

Pencil 

Visual Values 

. 2 

2 

Dialogue 

Lines & Tone 

of colour 

Black & White 

A. Colour 

Visual Values 

B. Materials & Technique 

3 

Repetitive 

Design 

Pattern 

Trace of 

Colour 

92 

Chromatic variations 

4 

Aquarelle 

Dominant colours 

Contrasting & 

Complementary 

Blue 

Yellow 

Red 

Yellow & Blue 

Red & Green 

5 

Mixed Media

Diagram 8b (3): Visual Values – Organisation & Structure 

Deconstruction 

& 

Reconstruction 

Diagram 8c: Images with Contents 

Inanimate 

Objects 

Other Images 

Living Objects 

Visual Values 

C. Organization & 

Structure 

Position 

& 

Location 

Images with Contents 

93 

Facial 

Expressions, 

Portrait 

Paintings 

Size 

Parts of Portraits

The Process of Presenting the Findings and the Interpretation. 

The presentation of the findings and their interpretation are carried out in accordance with the two 

stages of the analysis. The findings are the product of the structural stage (stage I) and the 

interpretation in the product of the content-related stage (stage II). I will start by presenting the visual 

findings which are those that arose from the 'categorical content's analysis of the artistic means'. I 

will present the findings in a hierarchical order (order 1, order 2). The point of departure in the 

presentation of the findings will always be from the 'Central Unit of Analysis' (A1 (a)). 

After presenting the category and its properties, I will present the interpretative (intertextual) process. 

According to this principle, each category and its contents are also considered to be a text. In this 

approach, the interpretation will examine the significance of the signs and symbols that appear in the 

text, their context in culture and in contents outside the text, additional data and findings from this 

research, and hints and illusions that arise from the text – all this according to the characteristics of the 

intertextual method of analysis and interpretation (see chapter 5 – Methodology – Intertextualism).The 

The interpretative intertextual process is significant both as a way to interpret and understand the 

profoundness of the text, and as a process on its own ( Elkad-Lehman, 2006). In this research, the aim 

is to be inside the interpretative process as well as present the wealth of contents that arises from this 

process. Intertextual interpretation allows one to reach depths, touch the contents, bring together and 

encounter a variety of contents. This is the reason that in these chapters. I will only present the main 

contents that are derived from the interpretation and the conclusions. In the appendices, according to 

each chapter, I will present an extended interpretation of the interpretative process. The only chapter in 

which the intertextual interpretation appears in whole (and not in the appendices) is chapter 6 – ' Book- 

Object'. This chapter presents the 'Central Unit of Analysis' as a finding as well, which as an outcome of 

the analysis has been defined as 'Book-Object' of the genre 'Readymade'. This chapter demonstrates 

the interpretative intertextual approach while using a number of affinities / linkages to this approach 

(para-textual, intra-textual and extra-textual). This book is the starting point of the whole process of 

analysis and interpretation. In this chapter I have chosen to present the complete, extended and deep 

interpretative process because it serves as a basis for the understanding of all the other findings. In 

addition, it presents and demonstrates in detail how one can analyse and interpret findings while using 

the intertextual approach. 

94

How the Findings (Paintings) are displayed 

All findings are displayed by category. Each group of findings is presented as a single complete unit 

consisting of a number of paintings which, together, represent and highlight the content of that category. 

The findings are illustrations and written content from journals and other documents generated in the 

course of the fieldwork. The point of origin is always the 'Central Unit of Analysis' – (A1 (a)). 

First, the finding is described in words (Fig. X). This sentence gives the category, the number of items 

and the 'Data Group' the finding comes from. Each cluster of findings is assembled from the various 

'Data Groups' and arranged into one single group with the aim of showing a particular visual category 

the study is exploring. 

The data assembled from the 'Central Unit of Analysis' are all framed in a thick black frame and the 

parts of them that the interpretation analyses are picked out by circles or arrows. Only findings 

assembled from the 'Central Unit of Analysis' are so framed in black. Other findings from other 'Data 

Groups' are adduced to reinforce the category and extend the intertextual interpretation. 

The analysis and interpretation of the findings are rooted in the artistic means. The study reinforces the 

interpretation with findings from journals and other documents generated in the course of the fieldwork. 

The journal findings are integrated into the interpretation. 

The findings are presented in the following order: first, a complete list of all the findings discussed, and 

then all the findings that display the particular category and its power. 

Occasionally, a particular detail will be emphasised to add another depth to the interpretation. 

Each category-section opens with one large illustration (ILS. X), representing the essential elements of 

that category (as a kind of example or Prototype). The discussion is interspersed with further 

illustrations, which also represent and illustrate the category in question. 

95

PART II (a) 

ARTISTIC MEANS: STYLE AND GANRE 

Chapter 6: 

THE 'BOOK OBJECT' 

ILS. 2: 'Book Object' – Inner appearance 

96


6.1 Super-Finding: The 'Book Object' 

6.2 The Artist's Act of Choice 


6.3.1 The Book and its Author 

6.3.2 The Story of the Lake – An Unending Story 

6.3.3 The Book's Title: Song of a Dying Lake 

6.3.4 The Book Cover – A Conjunction of Opposites 

6. 4 Intra-Textual Affinity 

6.4.1 'Book Object' – The Story of the Concept 


Summary 

6.5.1 'Object Book' – A Story of the Use of Material 

____________________ 

(a) Object Book – An Autobiographical Story 

(b) The Artist's 'Object Book' 

(c) From Object to Installation – Sarah's Tent 

(d) An Installation at an Exhibition 

Books are the bearers of civilization. 

Without them, history is silent, literature is mute, science is handicapped, 

culture and philosophy are frozen. 

(Barbara Tuchman) 

97

6.1 Super-Finding: The 'Book Object' 

In this chapter the study will explain the various concepts derived from the 'Book Object'. The study will 

identify its contexts and construct its meanings. This second stage of analysis is defined as an 

intertextual synthesis, to be carried out through three affinities the 'Book Object' possesses― para- 

textual, intra-textual and extra-textual. 

The 'Book Object' has the appearance of a hardcover book covered with a coat of brown paint. It looks 

from the outside like a sketch album but a quick glance inside reveals black and white nature 

photographs with minimalist printed texts. Interspersed between the photos are drawings, paintings, 

sketches and other forms of original artwork. A further look shows that the interspersed artwork is self- 

portraiture. There is dialogue in the book, a visual dialogue between different kinds of artistic means. 

List of findings 

Fig. 1: 4 Items - The 'Book Object' - Outer Appearance – 'Super – Finding' (A1 (a)) 

The 'Book Object' belongs to the artistic genre 'Readymade' (this term is explained in Section 5.4.1) 

and, as such, is representative of an artistic school, concepts, style and period. As an independent work 

of art, it also carries its own, private, values. 

Fig. 2: 5 Items - The 'Book- Object' - Inner Shape's Examples – 'Super – Finding' 

(A1 (a)) 

98

3 

1 

99 

2 

4

1 

3 4 

5 

2 

100

6.2 The Artist's 'Act of Choice' 

The finding under discussion is a work of art composed of a printed photo album, Song of a Dying Lake, 

interspersed with paintings and original works of art. The whole is treated as one visual text. Its history 

is an integral part of it, whether evident or hidden. Because the researcher's interpretative method 

considers a given text as an inexhaustible reservoir of data to be excavated for its deeper, hidden, 

meanings, para-textual affinity makes it possible to isolate the original book from the later artistic object 

and examine its former life before it became a work of art. 

As a preliminary stage, the research will explain the significance of the story of the paintings within the 

story of the 'Book Object' and the significance of this particular photo album. The study claims that the 

choice of this book combines conscious recognition and sub-conscious processes, so that all that it 

includes, whether evident or hidden or about to be exposed, is part of its story. All this is the inner 

meaning of the visual text. In other words, to extract its content one has to hold on to all that is in the 

text. Decoding the work/s of art will make it possible to trace their inner and subconscious messages 

and uncover the story behind and in them. 

Artist’s diary: "From my point of view Dying Lake is a meaningful object. It is a diary, a metaphor, 

a sketch book, a kind of hidden autobiography with symbols. It accompanies my work and the 

writing of all my diaries. It is an additional store of information that I have chosen" (A2 (a) – 

18.4.04). The artist is aware of the fact that the book is a metaphor of the story of her emerging portrait. 

Artist’s diary: "I removed a book from the book shelf, a book I once found in a rubbish heap […] a 

book I had decided, many years ago, to paint in […] To work in art books and create in them my 

own art, this is an old plan […] This is the foundation of my work "(A2 (a)- 7.4.03). "From a heap 

of books that I designated for artistic aims this book was chosen intentionally…specifically, and 

I still have a whole lot of books in which I want to work, but I have known for several days that 

the choice will be 'The Dying Lake' (A2 (a) – 7.4.03) […] In the beginning, when I started to work 

in 'The Dying Lake' I penetrated into it in a sensual storm, aggressive, hungry, not aware 

enough, innocent" (A2 (a) – 13.4.94). Even after making the choice the artist does not yet know why 

this specific book has been chosen. 

Reinhart (2000) discusses the issue of "The Artist's Choice" on the basis of the Dadaist manifesto, 

which states that a work of art is subject to coincidence. She explains that, together with coincidence, 

making a choice is a conscious act, accompanied by spontaneous and subconscious motivation. The 

artist reported here tries to explain this act of choice to herself: "Work in the book fascinates me, has 

always fascinated me. The idea and the plan to work in books have existed for years. I never 

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knew exactly what I would do in there, where it would lead me, what the subject would be" (A2 

(a) – 7.3.04). The work in the book is but part of the artist’s 'artistic activity' and according to her is 

attributable to a constraint: "At the moment I cannot work in a large format, I will start with a small 

one. But the main thing is to start and so enter of portrait painting … so I have chosen a small 

format, a book" (A2 (a) – 7.4.03). 

Later she turns to producing large portraits, but regularly returns, again and again, to the book, 

considering it an intimate activity: "Involvement with this book, another diary in addition to the 

many diaries that I produce" (A2 (a) – 13.4.04) “It is a book of thoughts, a diary of feelings, 

learning, trial and error, metaphors” (A2 (a) – 14.4.04) The Dying Lake is part of some kind of 

intimacy between me and myself" (A2 (a) – 14.4.04) - A visual, biographical diary. 

The artist tries to clarify to herself the reason for the choice: " and now everything becomes clearer 

[…] if I am going to write the book of my life via portrait painting, then this Object Book, this 

'Readymade', suits me very well… writing a book, keeping a diary, autobiography, words, 

speech, poetry, painting – all these are my family, and here it all comes together" (A2 (a) – 

7.3.04). "From my point of view, the choice of the book is very meaningful. My love of books, my 

relationship with them, and my other side that writes, does scholarship – making a book the 

basis of my work is an integral part of my self-portrait" (A2 (a) – 13.4.03). "It seems to me that 

this preoccupation with my own portrait does not mean that I am starting from a 'tabula rasa', I 

am no longer a 'tabula rasa, I am a book with over 50 pages of life, so in this case I have not 

chosen a blank page" (A2 (a) – 13.4.03). 

These statements show that the artist is aware of the fact that her choice is meaningful and symbolic 

but she is still not sure 'what it means'. "This book is my sketch book in which I draw, in which I try 

out new and different experiments , in which I practice better drawing, in which I paste some 

things that I want, I interfere and work on top of and inside works that are already there. Writing, 

taking sentences from the sketch book, this will be a portfolio, something intimate of my own 

that will accompany me in the course of working" (A2 (a) – 29.3.04). 

Intertextual decoding uses the same mechanisms as the creative mental process – condensation, 

displacement, projection and vers-revers, and these are also common in the dreaming process 

(Shienfeld, 1994). This means that the story of the author, the book, the Lake and all that goes with it 

have become symbol, image, and allegory. As in a dream, so here the artwork carries meanings and 

contexts that at first glance seem beyond rational understanding. The intertextual approach enables to 

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the researcher to identify these components in the visual text. Once they have been identified, they will 

be defined and interpreted as symbols that carry the work of art’s story. 


6.3.1 The Book and its Author 

Song of a Dying Lake was photographed and edited by Peter Merom (1962) and the minimalist texts 

written by Yedidya Peless. Merom, a member of Kibbutz Hulata on Lake Hula, was one of the most 

popular photographers in Israel in the 60's. As photographer and fisherman, he tells the story of a lake 

in the years 1954-1958, that was full of life and then started to waste away and die, until it became a 

marsh. "Merom and Peless describe these moments with heart-rending acceptance. The photographs 

document plants drying and dying, a dead turtle, birds desperately looking for water” (Zafrir, 2007). In 

his introduction to the book Merom himself writes: "These pages are the final conversation between the 

lake and me. For twenty years I sailed on it, looking for fish. Dark nights, hot sunny days, stormy waves 

created the bond between us". It seems that as the lake dies, so too die parts of Merom’s spirit and 

soul. Through the book, he tells the reader of his great love for country, nature, lake and art (Lahav, 

2007). 

The artist bonds to the author's words and ads in her own handwriting: "[…] I have decided to join in 

the conversation. Now this is my dialogue with the lake, with your words and with my own face" 

(A1 (a): 1). "You dedicate this book to the song of the dying lake, hoping its song will appeal to 

our hearts. Well, it speaks in a way you may not have expected […] whether I choose this lake 

coincidentally or not […] as yet I do not really understand what all this means or will mean to 

me" (A1 (a): 1). Thus the story of the lake becomes part of the artist’s emerging portrait story. 

The book was published in 1961 in 30,000 copies and became part of Israel’s collective memory 

(Lahav, 2007). Historically and socially, it documents the tragic story of the beginning of modern 

settlement in Israel, ideology, struggles between groups, a story of nature, period, country and people. 

Artistically and culturally, it represents photography in Israel in the 60's and Merom’s artistic status at 

the time. Over the years, book and photographer were then forgotten and new ideas of photography 

and art prevailed. Book, photography and photographer all seemed to have died with the Lake. 

Some say that the metaphor of a cruel and foolish death which emerges from the book can only be read 

as criticism of the Zionist effort to settle the country (Breitberg-Semel, 2002), as Merom is a 

representative figure of the pioneers of Israel’s modern settlement. He is part of the country's nature, 

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scenery, history and culture. His photographs express personal longings combined with a national story. 

The photographer tells about himself via nature, and nature tells its story via the photographer. 

6.3.2 The Story of the Lake – An Unending Story 

The Hula valley was in the past home to tens of thousands of birds, plants, rare fish and other animals. 

When the state was created it was decided to drain its swamps and lake so as to make room for 

agriculture and settlement. The draining of the lake was, and still is controversial. Some saw it as part of 

the Zionist ideology of 'making the desert bloom', some considered the area a source of disease, while 

others objected to the cruel interference of man and machine with nature. Yet, with time, it turned out 

that the song of the lake had not stopped. The stubborn struggle of Israeli nature lovers led to a small 

part of it being resurrected, and in 1964 it was declared the country’s first nature reserve. In spring, 

1994, a further stage in the rehabilitation of the Hula area was completed (Goren, 1995), so that today, 

the lake serves as a transit station for tens of thousands of migrating birds. 

Thus, forty years later, Merom’s book combines a story of destruction, loss and death with a story of 

revival, renewal and growth. The book, the author and the photographs died with the lake, but their story 

did not end. In 2000, the Israel Museum awarded Merom its photography prise in belated recognition. 

The book itself has returned to the bookshelves, for in 2007 a new edition appeared. The world of art is 

also resurrecting the book and its photographs. Gal Weinstein (Tel Aviv Museum, 2004), an Israeli 

artist, presented his version of the book's photographs at an exhibition of six large murals. Finally, the 

choice of this artist to use this book as part of her artwork brings it back to the forefront. 

6.3.3 The Book's Title: Song of a Dying Lake 

Merom writes in his introduction: "I dedicate this book to its song, hoping it will also touch your ears" 

(p.1). Photographing the last moments of the dying lake, he hears the song of nature, and documents it. 

Recording this song creates Synaesthesia, that is, the sensation produced when one physical sense 

mediates another (Barasch, 1977); in this case visualization mediates hearing. Synaesthesia is also an 

aspect of Intertextuality, in which one sign hits another (Kristeva, 1989). Merom presents with a photo 

album in which the eye plays a major role, the eye of the photographer and the eye of the person 

looking at the photographs. But the title of the book mentions a 'song'. It says song but shows 

photographs – Synaesthesia. 

The first recorded synaesthesia occurrence in the Jewish collective memory, the first multi-sensory 

spectacle in the history of mankind, is the Giving of the Law on Mount Sinai, where it is reported "All the 

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people perceived the thundering and lightning…" (Exodus, 20, 18) How can one see or perceive 

sounds? Ben Ezra (2001) explains that, scientifically, a situation may arise in which information streams 

intensively from two directions to different sensory centres and so he explains the force of being at 

Mount Sinai and how a situation was created in which information streamed from several centres to all 

the senses. The song emerging from Merom’s photographs makes the reader an excited 

audience/readership able, on this special occasion, to 'see voices'. 

Another powerful linked phenomenon, also in the Jewish bible and the Jews’ collective memory is The 

Song at the Sea (Exodus 15), the victory song of the Israelites after their crossing of the divided Reed 

Sea. This miracle enabled the people of Israel to escape their enemy and eventually watch the enemy's 

downfall and drowning. The song celebrates miracle, victory, resurrection and growth. It is a song of 

redemption, an existentialist song symbolising the birth of a nation from slavery to salvation. 

Both Merom’s Song of the Lake and the Song at the Sea are about water and in both one can find hints 

of a feminine element. The element of water, in general, is considered to symbolise a feminine and 

emotional stratum. Water is "a feminine element related to […] birth and universal womb (Goldberg, 

2005: 428). The Song at the Sea is sung by women. The female voice gains power and expression via 

the voice of the prophetess Miriam: "Then Miriam, the prophetess, the sister of Aaron took a timbrel in 

her hand: and all the women went out after her with timbrels and dancing" (Exodus 15, 20). The voice of 

a woman gave the song of the sea its immense emotion, an emotion that is unique to the female gender 

whose singing is the most profound (the Lubavitche Rabbi in Habad library, 2008). Woman "uses the 

voice of the soul […] it is a woman's task to find the hymn of creation […] work that is done in the 

deserts of the soul" (Pinkola-Este's, 1997: 40). This feminine singing is joined by the feminine voice of 

this artist, who adjoins her portraits to the photographs of the lake. 

But the full title of Merom’s book is Song of a Dying Lake. Thus, there is a fusion of song and death. The 

combination of song and death is known in the collective memory as a requiem – a musical composition 

played in memory of the dead and used as a mourning song. The photographer/fisherman mourns the 

lake's dying and imminent death. The name of the book discomforts. How can one sing at the time of 

death? Who is singing? The Lake? Man? The photographs? How can there be song in a book of 

photographs? This is a verbal metaphor that carries connotations and hints, all of which says from the 

very first that the book contains a struggle and dialogue between opposites, and also a hint that struggle 

is the source of growth and renewal. 

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6.3.4 The Book's Cover – A Conjunction of Opposites 

The binding of the book shows that we are already dealing with a work of art. The original binding was 

covered with a thick layer of paint that hid its past. This layer of paint is the first act that changes the 

photograph album from a book to a work of art, a 'Book Object'. The layer of paint hides everything, 

even the book's title. It conceals not only the book's past but its contents too and what it has become. It 

looks like just an old and tattered sketchbook. But at the same time this act of painting the cover has 

importance and significance. 

The brown colour symbolises earth. Thus we have an encounter between water and earth. Covering the 

binding with the colour of earth is a visual metaphor for the story of the Lake. As the Lake dries up and 

exposes the earth, so the earth-coloured binding covers the story of water (and photographs of water) 

inside the book. The brown colour was chosen by the artist who in this way created an additional 

metaphor and took her place in the book. Like water, earth also points to the female, the expression 

'mother earth' being fundamental to our culture. Water and earth symbolise the feminine elements of 

creativity and growth. Merom's story as photographer and farmer represents the 'culture of the earth' (or 

land) in Israeli art. Israeli artists considered themselves to be part of the great Zionist enterprise, as 

Merom did, and as does this artist, who chose this book for her self-portrait. It shows an art dialoguing 

with its environment (Manor, 1991). In Hebrew 'man' (Adam) is derived from 'earth' (adama). Ofrat, 

(1988) explains that the dialogue between the individual and the collective culture – earth, water – is 

part of creating a portrait and identity. Earth is part of creation: "Then the Lord God formed man of dust 

from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life" (Genesis 2, 7). In symbolism, the earth 

is a huge womb, the mother who raises man (Neumann, 2007). One can say that the artist has forced 

the brown colour onto the book's binding as if she wanted to state that the book was the story of a lake 

but now is the story of man. 

Earth is at the very centre of an ideological conflict between the wish to produce land for settlements 

and not interfering with nature's equilibrium. It should not be forgotten that the story in Merom’s book 

tells a story of destruction, struggle, extinction and death, which are all – as will be explained later – 

basic pre-conditions for growth and renewal. The artist’s portraits are thus swallowed by a book that 

has acquired the image and role of earth and so create a metaphor for the phenomenon described by 

Neumann (2007) "the creative earth that not only gives birth to life and devours it, but also resurrects, 

creates, changes dead matter, and raises lowly matter on high" (p. 113). 

The encounter between water and earth described here can be read as an encounter between opposing 

poles in nature, complementary opposites which create a whole. Continuing the metaphor, one might 

106

say that the artist chooses water and earth to obtain material and sculpt her image in it, which is also a 

model of her country's landscape. 

6. 4 Intra-Textual Affinity 

6.4.1 'Book Object' – The Story of the Concept 

The 'Book Object' belongs to the field called Livre d'Artiste. Books of this kind do not deal with artistic 

contents but are themselves works of art. A Livre d'artiste is characterised by ideational wholeness and 

a meaningful, artistic, sequence (Alon, 2005). There are different types of Artist's Book, of which a 'Book 

Object' is only one. In this study, an original book is one component of the 'Book Object' which still 

looks like a book. Making an old book part of a work of art places it in the artistic genre, 'Readymade'. 

'Readymade' grew from the Dadaist style that developed in the period of Modernism. Diagram 9 

schematises the basis – contents and ideas – on which this product is based: 

Diagram 9: The Development and Location of the 'Book Object' in Art 

Concept: : גשומ 

'Book – object' 

רפס 

Genre 

Readymade 

Style: 

Dadaism 

Movement: 

Modernism 

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Modernism (1890-1945) wished to shatter old traditions and re-invent culture (Stangos, 1993). The 

Dadaist style developed in this period (1916 – 1923) and against this background. But Dada was 

different from idealist modernism which wished to create change and raise a better world. Dada wanted 

to shock and point demonstratively at the evil world via ‘bad' behaviour. This was the context in which 

the concept 'Readymade' was first coined by Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968). 

Readymade describes art that is created using existing, everyday, objects and articles, detached from 

their original context. Duchamp claimed that each object can be, at one and the same time, what it was 

and what it had become. When an artist uses a familiar object that has a specific role, the artist decides 

what the future of that object will be. But the artist will always want the past of the object to be a 

significant part of its new appearance. He or she chooses to leave clear traces of the original item so 

that the newly created one will include content associated with the former (Seekamp, 2005). 

Using the 'Readymade' in the spirit of Dadaist principles, the artist undermines conventions and raises 

philosophical questions about the traditional definitions of art and artist. Turning a familiar object into 

something else demolishes conventions, changes ways of thinking and at the same time arouses 

anxiety – all which is stable and clear is changing. This is a kind of anxiety that casts doubts on sacred 

truisms such as the function of a museum, the role of works of art, the location of objects and the 

boundaries between the private and public (Seekamp, 2005). 

Duchamp uses a book in his Unhappy Readymade, (Heller, 1994). Flaunting his contempt of art and 

culture, he hangs a book of geometry from a balustrade and allows time and the elements to leave their 

mark on it. He estranges it from its usual place (a respectable library or museum), changes its 

surroundings, ‘desecrates’ it. 

Every object that is borrowed for the production of the 'Readymade' brings its original story to the new 

work. This is what Merom’s album brings to the 'Book Object'. When a book is chosen to be the object, it 

contributes added value – the written word – and this carries additional content, it becomes "an 

overloaded article" (Gedalyovich, 1994: 8) and its brought contents become part of the work. But before 

dealing with the Book’s contents requires further consideration how it brings along its values as a book. 

Using a book as material for artistic creation, by someone whose roots are Dadaist, is an act of defiance 

and a breaking of norms. On the other hand it glorifies the book and turns it into a unique work of art 

(Spector, 1991: Heller, 1994) because a mass produced and duplicated item is made into a unique work 

of art. Thus the work itself contains contrasts. Expressing rebellion, protest, fragmentation and 

destruction, it yet also acts as a process of growth towards a new work of art. The voices of struggle, 

rebellion, destruction and growth peek through the analysis of the 'Book Object's concept. 

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6.5.1 'Object Book' – A Story of the Use of Material 

The 'Book Object' is a work of art and, like any work of art, is unique and original. But it does not stand 

in a vacuum. The post-modern concept "denies the existence of a work of art having a single meaning, 

because everything is relative, depending on context and the interactions of systems" (Elkad-Lehman, 

2006: 39). Works of art, across different fields, are connected to each other, manipulate and develop 

each other in different ways and styles, "and each artistic object is necessarily a mosaic of fragments of 

other fragments" (p.39). Every work of art we observe reverberates with other works and the latter 

reverberate in it. Inter-textual reading is a conversation in which "texts not only talk about each other, 

but also to each other" (Azulay, 2006: 23). Paraphrasing Genette (1982), we may say that 'art is only 

one large work' in which "each work of art is built on another and the circle […] is endless" (Genette, 

1982: 453). 

Every book, from its very outset, is an object and, as such, is material, tangible, physical and sensual. 

From the beginning of history creating a book has been a creative act using many materials. Any 

available material was used, stone, wood, wax, skins and finally the papyrus from which paper 

developed (Gedalyovich, 1994). The usage of a book as material, or creating a book from materials, 

thus corresponds with its basic history and with manufacturing methods in which the material is the 

message (McLuhan and Fiore, 1967). The material tells a story. When an artist chooses a book for his 

work of art, whether as a 'Readymade' object or as an object he has made himself, he conducts 

dialogues between man and culture, society and norms, history and the present, the unrefined and the 

unique, and between a language that is content, and a form that is the word (Heller, 1994). 

To this discussion the artist adduces the 'Object Book', which is a second type of art work of the genre 

Livre d'Artiste. A work of art of this type is not composed of a 'Readymade' book but is itself a book. It 

deals with the subject of ‘book’ and presents it as a work of art, using artistic means (Alon, 2005). In this 

type of creation glass plates or aluminium sheets, prints or computer printouts replace the paper pages 

of regular books. Sometimes the book is a sculpture, sometimes an installation in space (Alon, 2005). 

Shai Zakai and Dov Or-Ner, for example, (in the exhibition, Books and Letters, Engel Gallery, 2007) 

present a book made of metalwork combined with photography. Anselm Kiefer presents superhuman 

steel shelves on which are translations of ancient books combined with photographs and zinc (Heller, 

1994). Lucas Samaras (in the exhibition, What a Beautiful Book, Jerusalem Museum, 2005: in Alon, 

2005) exhibits huge dotted sheets combined with materials and perceptible additions which one may 

touch, and which merge interactively with the art work. In each case the book’s meaning and content 

109

derive from its materials, their placement and sometimes also from interactions within it. These works of 

art talk at one and the same time about the sanctity of the object and its extinction. 

Hefetz (2002) (in the exhibition, After His Death – The Life of an Artist in the Kibbutz, The Kibbutz 

Gallery, 2000) creates structures from piles of books sent to him from a library and which have special 

meaning, and with these structures he discusses ideological calamity (Tamir, 2000). Pichhadze (2007) 

(in the exhibition, Books and Letters, Engel Gallery, 2007) creates a tower of red books with a yellow 

lemon on top and invites the observer to read his country's culture in this work of art and identify the 

walking stick of his wanderings. Nurit Cederboum (the artist and the researcher) (The Feast of Feasts, 

Haifa 1999) in her House of the Book erects installations from old books, photographs them and builds 

a new structure from the enlarged photographs. 

(a) Object Book – An Autobiographical Story 

Lellouche’s 'Object Book' Faces (Artist's Books, Israel Museum and Tel Aviv Museum, 2006, Ashdod 

Museum ,2007) completes the circle of ‘correspondence’ of Livre d'Artiste works and opens up the circle 

for an encounter with another finding (see Subsection (b) following). Lellouche exhibits a book-work 

made of fifteen etched self-portraits accompanied by handwritten texts. All are associatively bound to 

the concept of a 'life book' – an autobiography. Any visual 'life book' of self portraits reverberates with 

Rembrandt’s life-long work. In Lellouche’s Faces this reverberation starts as a tiny whisper and reaches 

exclamation when Lellouche writes on one page "Rembrandt observes me strangely, as if drawing on 

my work without using force. And when I understand that he is not watching me but himself, I am 

astounded. Either what I see is Rembrandt, in which case I am a mirror, or I am not me and what is in 

front of me is the mirror". Lellouche thus creates an intertextual text in which he connects his own self- 

portraits with the master of etching and self-portraits, whose paintings are the ultimate visual 

autobiography in the history of art (Schildkraut, 1999; Hall, 1999; Bruce, 1999; Osmond, 2000). 

Lellouche’s work is an 'Object Book' dealing with self-portraits. From here it is a short step to the finding 

'Object Book' as self-portrait – in this study. 

(b) The Artist’s Object Book 

This finding belongs to 'Data Group' (B2 (a)) (Table 1). It is a three-dimensional object which the 

researcher defines as an 'Object Book'. As a datum from group B2 it belongs to the artist’s self-portraits 

painted in the years 1985-87. 

110

Fig. 3: 4 Items – 'Object - Book' – Findings from 'Data Group' (B2) 

111

The object was shown at the artist’s first one-woman exhibition (My Environment and Myself, Artists’ 

House, Bet Chagall, Haifa, 1987). It is one-metre high and composed of four panels, each about 70 cm. 

wide, and each with a portrait on either side. The central panel is a large, frontal and colourful portrait. 

On the panel opposite it mirror shards are glued in which the first portrait is reflected and refracted. All 

the other panel-portraits are painted in black and white acrylic, and alternately the image is white and 

the shadows black or vice versa. A technique is used that combines paints, collage and assemblage 

using a variety of materials (glass, mirror, newspaper shreds, paper and wooden frames). Each portrait 

is a picture in its own right. 

The 'Object - Book' looks like an open book and its visual and material content gives it the meaning of a 

book or album. The lettered paper and newspaper shreds hint at writing and print, the black and white 

work implies photographs and negatives: the mirror shards hint at fairy tales (“Mirror, mirror on the 

wall…”). Finally, the portraits themselves allude to autobiography. Thus the study discovers that the 

'Object - Book' which appeared on the artist's horizon in 1987 turns out to have been the foundation of 

her 'Book Object', which stars in this research study. This means that preoccupation with the book and 

self-portraits, and their connectedness, is deeply implanted in the artist's creative world, even though 

she was for long unaware of it. One could go further and detect here a process of incessant study and 

self-study, using painted self-portraits, with the purpose of telling a personal story, a process which 

expresses a conscious and subconscious need. The tenacity to keeping working at this activity over 

many years is sufficient reason to investigate and clarify its meanings. 

When the artist created her 'Object Book' in 1987 as a kind of 'first fruit', she was unfamiliar with the 

concept. She created the object as part of an intuitive, creative, unfolding process: Artist’s diary: "I 

created an object long before I knew what it was. In this work I refer to the portrait, to the 

occupation with portrait as autobiography. And this is the work that most connects me to what I 

am going to do today. Today it is conscious, at that time it was inside, intuitive" (A2 (a) - 11.1.04). 

"Actually, creating a book-like object with portraits in it is an illustration of autobiography, as the 

painting, colour, visual values, expressions etc. are all visual symbols that tell a story" (A2 (a) – 

11.1.04). 

The encounter and conversation described here between the earliest and primary 'Object Book' and the 

later 'Book Object' parallels a similar encounter that took place at the Object Lu exhibition in 1994 in the 

Janco Dada Museum at Ein Hod, Israel. The artist sees the encounter of objects of the Livre d'Artiste 

genre as both an intra-textual and a personal conversation, and as an extra-textual cultural 

conversation. The 'Book Object' will develop within this personal conversation, to eventually become an 

installation. 

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(c) From Object to Installation – Sarah's Tent 

The 'Object Book' finding was defined by the artist in her diary as a "two-dimensional object in three 

dimensions" (A2 (a) – 11.1.04). The language of art defines it as an installation. ‘Installation’ refers to 

sculpture that relates to the space in which it is placed. Compared to sculpture which is viewed frontally 

and retains physical and ideational distance, the viewer of an installation can walk in and between the 

parts of an installation and be part of it. 

Fig. 4 finding from 'Data Group' (A1 (b)) is defined as an installation and is entitled Sarah's Tent. This 

installation, as an object that deals with self-portrait, expands, verifies and enriches meanings which 

have already been interpreted. In the spirit of "conversations between works of art", this installation 

interprets its predecessor in the same way that one interprets its successor (Kristeva, 1989). 

Fig. 4a shows the installation from the outside. 

Fig. 4b and Fig. 4c show inner views. 

Fig. 4d shows details. 

Fig. 4 (a, b, c, d): 13 Items - Installation - Sarah's Tent - Findings from 'Data Group' 

(A1 (b)) 

113

114

115

4 

9 

1 

6 

2 

7 

10 

116 

5 

8 

11 

3

This installation was created from original portrait paintings. Invited to take part in the Isaac project, the 

artist had to create a work connected with the biblical Isaac. She chose Isaac's mother, Sarah, and in 

particular Sarah’s immortal statement when she became pregnant "After I have grown old, and my 

husband is old, shall I have pleasure!" (Genesis 18, 12). The artist uses this statement as an allegory of 

a woman observing herself: Artist’s diary: "I am in the mirror and expose myself as a woman to 

herself: I think it is similar to Sarah's statement. Sarah's statement is also a statement of a 

woman who looks at her inner life" (A2 (a)-29.11.04). 

Sarah, with her immortal question-exclamation, joins the gallery of portrait images the study has 

presented so far: biblical Miriam, the lake, the book, each bring new meanings and reinforce the others. 

In the exhibition catalogue, the artist writes: "Sarah's character and image speak about a woman 

who stands "in front of the mirror" looking at her self with honesty, courage, humour and 

wonder and not hesitating to see and to say what she knows and feels" [...]. Her unforgettable 

sentence about pleasure in old age can be read as a question, exclamation or promise or all 

three together [...] Sarah looked at herself and I'm looking at her through the mirrors of history, 

myth and symbol. At the same time I'm looking at myself through a mirror and drawing self- 

portraits. Looking at myself as a woman at my age, and investigating my self through those self- 

portraits may be asking the same questions that Sarah asked in her time" (A2 (c) – 4.1.06). 

Earlier, the archetypical figure of biblical Miriam the Prophetess (The Song at the Sea) showed through 

the song’s text and enriched the meaning of feminine creativity. Now the archetypical figure of Sarah 

appears. According to Steinsaltz (1983) biblical figures continue to live and develop, enabling us to see 

in them the fundamentals of a living person close to us, to see them as multi-dimensional and 

fundamental, archetypical figures. Sarah and Miriam are both women who interweave with the artist's 

self-image as she examines and designs her self-portraits. 

Porat (2006) puts the biblical Sarah on the psychiatrist's couch in order to re-examine the significance of 

her famous laughter. He claims that it was subconscious laughter that even Sarah was unaware of, 

laughter that expressed her lack of faith in her ability to give birth after the menopause, an inner 

laughter that expressed doubt in her feminine creative ability. As this subconscious laughter arose, it 

forced Sarah to cope with her inner emotional block and lack of faith in her inner, feminine, creative 

resources. "Open coping with laughter changes it from ridiculing laughter to laughter of faith, joy and 

thankfulness" (Porat, 2006: 119). 

Thus the figure of Sarah becomes another metaphor and also a mirror that shows the artist something 

of her inner world and leads to processes of inner growth and development. Her working method 

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enables the artist to produce another portrait from every original painting: one portrait gives birth to 

others. Doubting her abilities and talent as a painter, as Sarah doubted her femininity and fertility, the 

artist says "I am no longer an artist, perhaps I never was" (A2 (b)- 25.1.04) "The problem is that I 

still try to prove to myself, perhaps to the whole world, that I know how to paint. In my own eyes 

I am not a painter, and have never been… funny, I say I am a painter but when I look into the 

mirror, I, myself, do not believe that I am a painter. Rembrandt was a painter, Van Gogh too – not 

me" (A2 (b) – 15.2.04). "Nevertheless I continue to produce one portrait from another". 

The Tent -- Parts and Whole: This tent installation was constructed in stages. Original portraits were 

photographed and then the photographs were used as raw material and starting point for the new work. 

With the aid of a computer, the artist produced from every original painting a varied series of works 

derived and developed from it. Every 'mother-painting' became a starting point for new work. Thus every 

new work created from the original 'mother painting' is a 'Readymade' portrait. This process of taking 

apart an original painting and re-designing it again and again is a metaphor for the whole research 

process, in which the artist examines her image, investigates it, dismantles it, and from her insights gets 

new portraits. 

The re-processing methods include dismantling, cutting, breaking, attaching and re-designing. Every 

original portrait has a chain of 'daughter' portraits derived from it: the latter all works of art in their own 

right. "The intention was to use the portraits as raw material. In this way I create items that draw 

on my portraits to make a statement that connects to Sarah’s statement" (A2 (b) – 29.11.04). A 

visual metaphor has been created in which the fertility of the paintings ― one painting gives birth to 

another ―conducts a dialogue with Sarah's fertility, mother of mothers, which she thought lost. It ends 

in laughter – in the joy of creation. 

For Sarah’s Tent the artist printed the new series of portraits on canvas and knitted and stitched the 

canvasses onto a large white cloth. The creative process expands to take in painting, photography, 

computer processing, building object, knitting, and sewing. Knitting and making sheeting for the tent 

relates to the work of tribal women and folk crafts. Via Sarah, the ancestral mother, the artist connects 

to the roots of femininity (Pinkola - Este's, 1997). Este's says this kind of work "is important, for it 

commemorates the seasons of the soul […] and is not just a marker of one's own understanding. It is 

also a map for those who follow us […] and the more we nourish the soul the more it promises growth" 

(p. 27). 

The sheeting covering the tent has two sides. The outer side is white, clean and smooth: the inner side 

is colourful and displays a wealth of images and shapes. Tens of portrait paintings have become 

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hundreds, and all these together create one unified whole – a portrait in a metaphor entitled Sarah's 

Tent. Here, too, one can find expression of the Dadaist 'Readymade'. As Derrida (2002) suggests, the 

artists breaks the text, deconstructs it and reconstructs it. The deconstruction of the portrait is a physical 

metaphor for the research process. Every action carried out here is a means of looking at oneself, the 

artist examining himself through his creation. This is the 'Ars Poetica' (from Latin) Phenomenon, which 

describes the reflexivity of the artist about himself as an artist. Azulay (2006) claims that the 'Ars 

Poetica' phenomenon represents the Intertextual phenomenon as well. The artist uses her paintings as 

'Readymade' objects, and creates something new out of them without erasing the traces of the old. 

Personal Journal: "I have expanded the works, given them another dimension and there is no 

doubt that on the day I create and handle them they are already another work that draws on the 

former one. My self-portrait using painting, photography turns into material for the next work 

which is also a self-portrait" (A2 (b) – 30.11.04). 

The use of different techniques reverberates into a dialogue between new and old, computer versus 

handicrafts. The artist handles neither her works nor herself with respect. She cuts, breaks, takes apart 

and rebuilds. The time-travel that started with the ancestral mother, Sarah, has passed through tribal 

handicrafts, through artistic currents and cultural periods. Modernism, Dadaism, expressionism, post- 

modernism and de-constructivism, each period adds another dimension to the deeper meanings of the 

story. 

Tent and Book – Interior and Exterior: The installations – tent as well as the 'Book - Object' – create 

a dialogue between inside and outside. In both objects the outside does not disclose what is going on 

inside. The brown book binding does not indicate what happens in the book, and the same is true of the 

white sheeting that envelopes the tent. In both cases there is a kind of vessel or box, with a quiet and 

uniform exterior which covers storms inside. This means apparently that the artist does not want 

anything known, because the covering is white and smooth. But on entering the tent, much is revealed. 

Jung (1993) defines the outer personality as 'persona', as a mask that covers the inner personality. 

The Tent’s Symbolism: A house is a mystic symbol of femaleness (Goldberg, 2005). Thus the house- 

tent is symbolically connected to the image of Sarah, the fertile woman. Freud (1988) sees the house as 

vessel and womb. So one can see that femininity is entwined in the tent with the portrait paintings of the 

woman/artist, through the image of Sarah, mother of mothers. 

According to Matri (2005) a house also symbolises the internality of the soul and the search for psychic 

space, "a state that enables the soul to observe its inner processes" (p.59). This, he explains, demands 

a double road from every person "separation and removal of outer layers from what is not his, and at the 

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same time an increased focusing on what he really is. It involves looking inwards, discovery and 

exposure" (Matri, 2005: 59).Pinkola - Este’s (1997) explains that "the symbol of the house is about 

organising the mental space in which a man exists, both consciously and subconsciously" (p. 90). To 

enter the house is to enter the inner life. 

Netzer (2004) adds that the artistic object is like the alchemists’ hermetically closed vessel which refined 

base materials into gold. Disassembling the portraits, mixing them and integrating them in an object 

(house or book) are a metaphor for the alchemical process. Jung (1993) made an analogy between the 

alchemical process and the developmental process of the psyche. 

Multiplicity, Unification and Crystallisation: The three findings presented so far ('Book Object', 

'Object Book' and Sarah's Tent) all contain a large number of portraits a group of portraits gathered in a 

bound book, another group stitched into a structure defined as a tent, and in another place they come 

together to create an object that is a book. Jung (1989, 1993) defined this as "crystallisation of the 

uniqueness", a process of self-fulfilment, the apex of mental development. This is the process in which 

opposing parts of the 'self' unite, recognises each other's presence and connect into a complete 'self' (, 

Robertson 2004). 

Sarah's Tent enlarged the concept of the 'Object Book' from the 'Readymade' to an installation. The 

next datum to be presented and discussed is another installation, Fig. 5 finding from data group A1(c) 

(Table 1). It reinforces the phenomenon of multiplicity, crystallisation and consolidation. 

(d) An Installation at an Exhibition 

The installation comprises a scatter of self-portraits. 

Fig. 5a shows the installation. 

Fig. 5b shows the exhibition out of which the installation was constructed, a psycho-drama creativity 

exercise carried out under the supervision of Dr. Avrahami (see explanation in appendix 1). 

Fig. 5 (a, b): 5 Items - Exhibition and Installation – Findings from 'Data Group' (A1 

(c)) and (D1) 

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1 

1 

3 

121 

2 

2 

Installation 

Exhibition

As in the 'Book Object' and Sarah's tent, so here the artist uses self-portraits to create a new object – an 

installation – which, taken as a whole, constitutes a single composite portrait. This action can also be 

seen metaphorically as the artist using her own materials to create herself. Artist’s diary: "The space 

was the area of creation, and the portrait paintings – like all other materials in that room – were 

material for creating. I looked at the works again and did not see a portrait, face or story, but 

materials, colour and technique. I started a work process in which I created a complete and 

tightly constructed installation in which every piece of work had a precise place as part of the 

whole […]. The result was an antithesis to the first structure, "the first exhibition'. In the first 

structure there were separate portraits, isolated and scattered in space – spectators look at them 

one at a time. In the second stage the portraits form a complete crystallized unit in which the 

whole is more than the sum of its parts. All the portrait paintings, sketches and objects (sketch 

book, 'Book Object') go to make up one composite self-portrait" (A2 (a) – 28.2.06). 

Curator's/artist's text: "No more do we have dispersed portraits standing each on its personal 

territory, observing each other, slightly frightened, hesitating, investigating, serious faced, 

close-mouthed and inquiring […] but portraits that have joined together, become a solid mass of 

one whole large portrait […] like a jigsaw puzzle of individual portraits. Each portrait is but a 

short (or long) sentence in the whole story. Whether it is upside down, hidden, large or small, at 

the top or bottom, or on the floor like a carpet" (A2(c) – 28.2.06). 

When the artist finished building the installation, she looked at the complete and structured product and 

concluded "to this point it was a sketch, now it is a painting (C2 (a) 17: 4). The complete structure is 

the end of the journey. Having completed the installation, she takes it apart, ceremoniously collects the 

art works, packs them up tight and concludes― "Now I can start painting" (ibid.)( extension of this 

subject in Chapter 9 ). 

Gathering many portraits into one space is typical of data from Group A (Table 1). In the other data 

groups each datum is one self-portrait only except for Fig. 6 finding from data group B1(c) which is the 

last datum to be presented in this section. 

Fig. 6: 1 Painting - The Three Graces – Finding from 'Data Group' (B1(c) ) 

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All the findings presented so far have been objects which contained paintings. Fig. 6 is just a painting. It 

is exceptional in its size (160x170 cm.), in the number of portraits that dwell in it and the fact that it 

includes other images (of jars). The phenomenon of multiplicity, unification and crystallisation is present 

here too. The painting contains five self-portraits, three in the upper part and two below, reflected in 

reverse. And there are two jugs, one on each side. The jugs seem to complement the portraits. The 

portrait-busts have no body and the jugs represent the female body, the containing womb (Goldberg, 

2005). Gauguin, too, found common features between a jug and a portrait, and created a self-portrait in 

pottery (1889). In a letter he wrote on 8.10.1888 he described the self-portrait he sent to Van Gogh: 

"The colour is far from natural, imagine a dim recollection of my large earthenware pot all bent in the 

large fire – all the shades of red, purple, flashes of fire flicker like a furnace that scatters rays to one's 

eyes, a place for the artist's deliberations and thoughts" (quoted in Scharfstein, 1998: 203). Gauguin’s 

colour descriptions are similar to the colour in this finding. 

The Three Graces –Goddesses in Every Woman: The artist entitled this painting The Three Graces 

(A2 (a) – 18.7.04), so adding to the allegoric load of her oeuvre. Using this title connects the artist and 

her work to the greatest painters (Rubens, Raphael, Botticelli and others) who painted the Three 

Graces. At the same time it reverberates to the ancient mythological story of Aphrodite and the three 

charites. Giving your work the titles of familiar recognised paintings is another example of 'Readymade' 

use. Shinoda-Bolen (2002) explains that the goddesses are invisible and strong forces that shape 

behaviour and influence feelings, and "we have to find the goddess in us as part of the way to 

wholeness, to the self" (Ne'eman and Bartal, 1994: 25). By giving her work this title, the goddesses the 

artist sought appeared to her. Decoding their significance will lead to self-development because "when a 

woman knows which 'goddesses' are dominant in herself, she understands their power as part of her 

compulsions, priorities and abilities, and can find personal significance in her choices" (Shinoda-Bolen, 

2002: 25). Aphrodite can be an enormous force for change and her gift to women is desire, whether for 

man or for creative work. Under the influence of Aphrodite a woman can give birth, paint or sculpt, 

create a dance, write a poem or a musical offering" (Ne'eman and Bartal, 1994: 203). 

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Summary 

The study’s single 'case study' is a 'Book Object'. This datum was chosen to be the 'central unit of 

analysis' and served as a starting point for the understanding of the process of self-investigation. The 

'Book Object' was defined as a ‘Super-Finding’ and further defined as belonging to the Dadaist genre of 

the 'Readymade'. 

This chapter presents the second stage of the study’s analysis, which the researcher defines as 

intertextual interpretative synthesis. This synthesis was carried out by drawing on three affinities the 

'Book Object' possesses– para-textual, intra-textual and extra-textual. With each of these affinities the 

analysis can be expanded to obtain more findings and reveal additional meaning and insight. 

The visual text which this chapter discusses is defined as a 'Book Object' and its character is 

interdisciplinary and intertextual. It refers and alludes to cultural, artistic, psychological and literary 

concepts and its width of reference gives it a depth and potential from which much can be learnt about 

the course of the study reported here, about the artist herself and about the meanings and implications 

of self-portraiture. 

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Chapter 7 

IMAGE AND WRITING – A CONFLUENCE OF LANGUAGES 

Ils 3: Image and Writing 

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7.1 Image and Writing – an intra-textual analysis 

7.2 Image and Writing in art 

7.2.1 Letter and Word -- Form and Substance 

7.2.2 Choice and Encounter 

7.3 Images combined with original, printed text 

7.3.1 To Write the Images, To Paint the Words 

7.4 Images combined with printed and handwritten text 

7.4.1 Dialogue – Texts Developing from Texts 

7.5 Images with handwritten text only 

7.5.1 Decoding Words Intertextuality 

7. 6 Images with text pasted on 

Summary 

7.6.1 Collage: Words, Shapes, Ideas 

____________________ 

"Nowadays art is concerned with investigating things which cannot 

be said and things which cannot be seen. 

No one knows what 'language' the human being understands, 

what language he speaks, 

in what language he should be approached" 

(Francois Leotard, 1989) 

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7.1 Image and Writing – an Intra-Textual Analysis 

One of the findings identified in the 'Book Object' as a 'Data Group' (the subject of the previous chapter) 

was the genre of 'Image and Writing' (Diag. 8a (1), Introduction to Part Il) (or "Imagewriting" as it was 

defined at an exhibition at the Janco Dada Museum, Israel in 1992). It is only natural then that this 

chapter will discuss the special encounter that might occur in this type of art work that combines image 

and writing. 

The category that deals with artistic means as genre and style contains a group of paintings in which 

Image and Writing are combined. This group divides into content units, such as image combined with 

original printed text; image with printed and handwritten texts; image with handwritten text only; images 

with pasted-on text; images with heading; texts and images as motifs. Each group or unit adds another 

dimension to the ‘Image and Writing’ phenomenon, extends its significance, deepens the interpretation 

and validates earlier findings. 

Fig. 7 gives an example of each of the content categories mentioned: 

Fig. 7: 6 Paintings - Image and Writing: Content Units – from 'Data Group' (A1 (a)) 

1 - Image with Original Printed text. 

2 - Image with Printed and Handwriting text. 

3 - Image with Handwriting text only. 

4 - Image and Heading. 

5 - Image and pasted text. 

6- General view 

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3 

1 

129 

2 

4

6 

5 

130

7.2 Image and Writing in Art 

The encounter between image and writing in a work of art raises a number of questions: What do they 

have in common? Is there room in art to combine Image and Writing? What is the significance of such a 

combination? What are its origins and how did it develop? These questions open a discussion which will 

serve as a basis for understanding and interpreting the findings. 

7.2.1 Letter and Word ― Form and Substance 

In a work of art, writing has a double meaning. As a graphic form it can be used as Lacan says "to 

support a word" (in Golan, 2002). It can also convey verbal content, a sign that contains both signifier 

and signified (Saussure in Golan, 2002). 

The ability to separate the letter from the word and consider it as a graphic form in its own right gave the 

letter entry into the world of art, and the letter, with its physical presence, started to gain recognition as a 

visual image. It became an object, a graphic form with aesthetic qualities: "Writing lost its referential 

significance and became a plastic image" (Heller, 1994: 4). It also became an aesthetic and formative 

object that could exist independently without any connection to its symbolism (Mauwas, in Dekel, 1991). 

In this way Dagan (in his exhibition West Side Stories, Arad museum, 1991) creates sculptures out of 

letters and says: "My works of art are sculptures of words". Or the American pop artist, Ed Ruscha, who 

"painted words" (Hell, 1988; America Whistles, 1976; The End, 1991). 

In the 'Book Object' the book serves as one of several creative materials and has the added value of 

containing writing, which by itself is both form and substance. Writing as form that has content requires 

decoding (Golan, 2002). These two dimensions, form and substance, allow a wide range of analysis 

and interpretation, especially when they appear in a work of art with an image. The significance of the 

combination of the image and writing derives not only from their physical encounter, but also from the 

cultural and artistic contexts they represent. 

Writing penetrated art slowly, starting in the 19th century in the works of Gauguin and Cezanne, 

continuing through the more daring creations of Braque and Picasso, and achieving even more strength 

in Dada and Surrealism. There were ups and downs in this development, but in the end it became a 

branch of art used by many artists. The most prominent contemporary artists identified with this style of 

work are Bruce Neumann, Lawrence Weiner, John Baldessari, Dan Graham and Robert Barry. 

As with the 'Readymade' and the 'Book Object' which originated in the Dada movement, so 'Image and 

Writing' developed from the same sources and principles. The Dadaist artists added the word and letter 

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to their plastic creations, it being part of their challenge to contemporary culture. Their aim was to rattle 

the observer, change his observation habits and damage sanctified values and symbols – allow cultural 

symbols to wrestle among themselves (Hakkert, 1991; Reinhart, 2000). An encounter that started as a 

Dadaist mutiny took root in the Post-modernist era and now represents reciprocal relations between 

signifier and signified (Hakkert, 1992). 

7.2.2 Choice and Encounter 

As a book, Song of a Dying Lake, arrives with its natural attributes, among them writing. The artist 

intends to paint in the book and the writing is part of the basis for this. A process develops in which – in 

the first stage – the artist's portrait joins the writing. Later on, a dynamic movement develops which 

creates ongoing dialogue between the various appearances of writing, between the writings themselves 

as well as between the writing and the images. The writing is an integral part of the creation from 

beginning to end. 

The artist's choice of this book is a result of conscious processes and subconscious motives. The artist 

knows both consciously and subconsciously that her encounter with the book is full of meaning. "I do 

not approach the work as a blank page, neither does the book" (A2 (a) - 7.4.03). The artist has 

mentioned elsewhere that the story of the book is going to be also her own story. The non-blank page of 

the book behaves as a blank page as well, because the artist chooses to paint on it. As Chefetz (in his 

exhibition Thoughts and Drawings, Tefen Museum, 2003), who draws and paints on written pages, 

states: "The work here is not on a blank page. All the pages have undergone some process before 

reaching me. My way of work is based on something that exists. Everything has a history" (quoted in 

Ofek, 2003: 25). 

The artist's choice of pages with writing on them is conscious. She does not know what her motivation 

is; neither does she know in advance what kind of dialogue will take place between the existing writing 

and the images to come. "The words written in the book are part of the book and I cannot ignore 

them, and not only because they are in the book. Since when can I ignore words? Not by chance 

did I choose to work in books. This is the strongest tie between me and books, me and the 

spoken and written word, and the image" (A2 (a) – 7.4.03). "On the one hand, I want to paint on a 

workable foundation and, on the other hand, I have chosen a meaningful book that contains 

photos, shapes and writing. After all, I do not want to conceal it totally, because if I do this I 

could have bought a blank notebook" (A2 (a) – 7.2.03). 

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When the artist was occupied with her works of art, the genre 'Image and Writing' was already a well- 

formulated concept in art. She recruited the book as a ready object to create a 'Readymade' and, as 

such, it contains, in advance, the writing that will be both form and content. She writes "From my point 

of view, the book is a 'Readymade' – it has a glorious past. I do not wish to abolish its past. What 

I want to do is build a new present time for it, a present that leans on its past, influences it, even 

directs it. I must find a way to preserve what exists in a way that will not disturb the new. To 

enable myself to paint in the book without totally erasing its contents" (A2 (a) – 7.4.03). The artist 

wishes to "take my place and combine my image with what is already on the page" (A2 (b) – 

13.4.04), and begins by choosing those pages where the writing is minimal and on the margins only, like 

"the poem that declares its existence in the margins of itself" (Paul Celan, 1960). 

The combination of image and writing – in all its variations – creates an interdisciplinary dialogue and 

thus makes the phenomenon of Intertextuality stronger and deeper. A dialogue is created in which the 

borders between the literary text and the painting are blurred: "The various disciplines inspire each other 

with their special potential" (Azulay, 2006:17) and expand the range of interpretations. The vitality of the 

text now depends on the active reader – the interpreter who will know "how to break the code, identify 

works of art or hints, or quotations coded in the text, and conduct a conversation between the surface 

text and the hidden ones" (Azulay, 2006: 25). Derrida (2002) explains that what is common to writing 

and painting is that both need decoding. Both "are invited to appear before the court of Logos with their 

hands tied, and answer him. It is all so simple because both are going to be interrogated" (p. 98). 

7.3 Images Combined with Original, Printed Text 

7.3.1 To Write the Images ― to Paint the Words 

In this sub-category the portrait images join with the original, printed text on the margins of the book's 

white pages. 

Fig. 8 (a, b): 5 Paintings - Images and original Printed Text – Findings from 


In Fig. 8 (1, 2, 3, 4) - the text is minimal and placed at the bottom of the page. 

In Fig. 8 (5) - the text is considerable and placed all over the page. 

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1 

4 

2 

5 

134 

3 

Image & original 

Printed Text

(a) Encounter – "One on One, One next to One, One in One" 

Assuming that the book with all that is in it has become the foundation of the painting; here it presents 

an encounter between old and new. A new situation has arisen in which a designed page has to absorb 

and contain a new component. A formative encounter takes place in which one kind of form is a bloc of 

letters, the place of which is permanent, and another kind of form or shape is made by brush and paint 

to create a painting. The image has to be placed on what existed before. As a formative bloc, the letters 

symbolise speech, as explained by Derrida (2002) when he quotes and interprets Plato "Writing is 

nothing but silenced speech" (p.106). 

This encounter between text and the image that moves in alongside it, or sits on top of it, represents the 

Intertextuality phenomenon. The text symbolises speech and hints at the sense of hearing which hints 

again the Synaesthesia phenomenon that discussed earlier (Chapter 6, Section 3.3). Synaesthesia is 

now joined by Bricolage, Polyphony and the Palimpsest. 

The writing and the text are sometimes placed side by side. This reminds us of Bricolage (‘Construction 

or creation from a diverse range of available things’ -- Concise Oxford English Dictionary) in which 

object is composed of different materials placed side by side. Odd and contrasting materials are 

combined with the aim of emphasising their artificial, arbitrary and ironic existence (Gurevitz, 1997). 

Image and writing as two languages, two forms of speech appear together, interface with the 

phenomenon of polyphony, which describes a musical work in which different and independent 

melodies are sounded at the same time to create a unique and complex artistic effect. Finally, the 

occasionally erased text on which a painting appears reminds the reader of a palimpsest, a parchment 

from which the writing has been scraped off and another text written on it. But the first text is not 

completely erased and it peeks out occasionally between the lines of the new text. Metaphorically, 

palimpsest is a symbol of multi-layered writing in which the new text is overlaid on the older (Genette, 

1977; Azulay, 2006). Each of these concepts points to the multi-layered, two-dimensional and multi- 

directional characteristics of the text - and represent the Intertextuality phenomenon. They connect the 

text to cultural concepts and point to the interpretative potential hidden in it. Later, the research study 

will point to at these combinations as metaphoric descriptions of the multilayered 'self'. 

(b) Location: Contrast and Struggle 

The discussion started with the encounter between the image and the text as an encounter between two 

formative states and behaviours. It explains and indicates the use of location and structure in the 

composition. 

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Fig. 8 (1, 2), reveals the text, whereas. In Fig. 8 (3 4) the text is alternately visible and hidden 

(examples, in Fig. 9a (1, 2)). 

Fig. 9(a): 4 Images - Details from Fig. 8 

1 

2 

Assuming that the printed text represents speech, its appearance or disappearance describes the 

tension between hiding and exposure, between silence and speech. Another formative state that 

describes the tension between speech and silence is the position of the text vis-à-vis the image. In Fig.8 

(2, 3, 4), a bloc of text is located below the mouth, over the neck. This hints at the saying, both in 

Hebrew and in English, that 'The words are stuck in my throat' and describes an obstruction in the ability 

to express oneself. In Fig.8 (1), a bloc of text is placed above the lips. The association here is with the 

saying – again both in Hebrew and in English― ‘The words are on the tip of my tongue'. Here, too, the 

significance is the wish to utter words and the inability to do so. Composition is used as a metaphor for 

expressive speech, and the expressive speech which appears from the visual metaphor is itself a 

metaphor for the contrasts between speech and silence. 

136

Fig.8 (1) reinforces this for one eye is missing. It is as if a state is depicted where something hidden and 

unseen is placed opposite the visible and exposed other. Since the study has already said that a bloc of 

text describes speech, here the picture illustrates again the phenomenon of ‘see the voices’ (see 

chapter 6 – the name of the book) with the seeing eye, while the other eye hides in silence. 

The introduction of text here is in itself ambivalent, since just as writing produces silence, so it also 

represents silence, it represents non-existing speech. It creates a "vacuum of speech, and a vacuum of 

speech is what writing is made of" (Barthes, 2007: 8). 

(c) Encounter: the Letter, the Word and the Image 

Text not only represents speech, it is also a kind of speech with substance. It is no longer just a 

formative bloc, it is also an object in which there are words, something the artist cannot ignore. As far as 

the artist is concerned words have power, they call to her and she highlights them spontaneously: "I 

skimmed through the pages on which and in which I worked. On every page there is Peter 

Merom's text next to his photographs. I tend to scan the text without reading it thoroughly. I 

quickly and intuitively underline certain words and sentences […] circle them with a pen "(A2 (b) 

– 7.3.04)."I quickly glance over the text and circle those sentences that catch my eye "(A2 (b) – 

13.4.04). The creative process has its own motivation, regularity and the knowledge of its inner 'self' 

(Reinhart, 2000). 

Now the text is no longer just a datum one must know approach and integrate with an image. The text 

becomes a reservoir for discourse. From a raw and passive text the meaning of which is mostly 

formative, it becomes a living text and the tension between silence and speech increases when certain 

words are emphasised. Thus, even before trying to understand the words, the act of underlining or 

circling them strengthens the phenomenon of speech. The artist has turned to the text and ‘cut’ words 

out of it. Circling a certain sentence is an act of indication and choice. This choice detaches the 

sentence from its context and makes it independent (Fig. 9b (3, 4). This is a visual metaphor that shows 

that the story of the lake is a store of materials for the artist's own story. Indicating, underlining and 

isolating words turn them into the artist's own words–a 'Readymade' of words. 

137

Fig.9b: 2 items – details 

This insight is reinforced by the artist's own words "It is clear that the sentences I underline are the 

ones I choose. As if the book already has things that are mine too. I borrow and appropriate 

them make them mine. I interfere in the book in form, colour and probably also in content" (A2 

(b) – 7.3.04). 

3 

4 

Noy (1999) emphasise that words that chosen spontaneously have significance. The study says that the 

artist choosed wards spontaneously and was not aware to its significance. According to Azulay (2006), 

the text too has a subconscious, which it does not know. The creation of new text depends on the 

interpreter, and marking out certain words is like a signal and invitation to interpret them. 

The study finds that there is already a discourse taking place in the text within a system of forms, states 

and contents, but it is still crude, both in itself and for the reader. Its strength is in what it intimates. 

Using Barthes (2007) image, this is the thread's end of the fabric. 

138

The random two sentences marked by the artist will illustrate this: "The reeds paint pictures in the 

water": "Convoluted, curved and distorted shadows". The study assumes that there is a dialogue 

between the marked sentences that they elude to each other and to the image as well. Together they 

expose meanings present in the sub-conscious of the interpreted text, as it is in the sub-conscious of 

the interpreter or of the text creator. The research will not analyse here the sentences and their relations 

to the images. Here the study just wish to point to the possibilities the text offers, the signs that invite 

interpretative reading, the potential hidden in the text, and the potential of the intertextual approach of 

interpretation.( expansion of the analyses can be seen in Appendix 2 p. 5-6) 

Fig.8 (5) belongs to this category of 'Image with Original Printed Text' but at the same time is an 

exception. The image has become smaller, and the text has grown. Less face, more text. This finding 

appears on the opening page of the book and it is the only page of the book where text covers the 

whole page. The text as a basis for a painting creates a texture on which the artist paints lips only, with 

a hint of nostrills. In the other findings in this section the text is placed on the throat or above the lips. 

Here the lips are in the centre and the letters or words run all over the place, from all sides. The 

encounter between lips and text is a metaphor for speech. The transparency created by the aquarelle 

technique enables the text to show through, so that it is alternately erased or exposed. Again it shows 

the same state of alternate exposure and hiding which creates a tension of opposites. Palimpsest, 

Bricolage, polyphony and Synaesthesia are all vigorously present in the findings of this section. The 

artist creates connection that can be interpreted (expansion of the analysis and sample can be seen in 

Appendix 2 p. 9-13). 

7.4 Images combined with printed and handwritten texts 

Handwritten text adds another layer to speech. The visual event in the area of the painting will feature 

two kinds of text, various positions of the images, the division of the page, the relative placement of text 

and paintings, different graphic shapes of the text and transformations of the text. 

Fig. 10(a, b): 12 Paintings - Image combined with Printed and Handwriting texts - 


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1 

4 

7 

10 

8 

2 

5 

11 

140 

9 

12 

3 

6

These findings present several situations: 

A. In Fig.10a (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) the image sits in an empty space above the printed text and the 

handwriting fills the space created between the image and the original text. There is also a clear 

separation between the three components. 

B. In Fig. 10b (7, 8, 9) the image is placed on the whole page and is integrated with the two types 

of text. There is no clear separation and the two kinds of text are adjacent to each other. 

C. In Fig. 10b (11, 12) the handwriting is scattered, without any connection to the original text. 

D. Fig. 10b (1) is unusual – the handwriting spreads over the whole page, integrated with the 

image and the printed text. 

E. Fig. 10a (3, 5) are unusual –additional text is pasted on. 

(a) Handwriting – a seismograph of the soul 

The uniqueness of handwriting is its intimacy. It removes barriers, draws the observer nearer (Mauwas 

in Dekel, 1991). An example can be found in the work of the American photographer, Duane Michals (in 

his Those Special Things, 1973), who combines handwritten texts, erasures and corrections with his 

photographs, and in this the way shares his personal and intimate experiences with the reader. Foucault 

(in Dekel, 1991) explains that this is a kind of text that flows from the creator’s thoughts to the thoughts 

of others. It is a text that wishes to cast doubt on pre-conceived decisions and raises uncertainties 

regarding its origins. 

The presence of handwriting in a painting is the artist’s invitation to look into her own inner and personal 

world. The transition from printed, ordered text to handwritten text points to a process of release and 

exposure, as if another window has been opened in the artist's self-investigation and the construction of 

her identity. 

All the findings in this category are drawn, except for some unusual trickling of colour (Fig. 10a (4, 5, 6) 

& Fig. 10b (8, 9, 10) (this trickling of colour is dealt with separately below). There is dialogue between 

two kinds of writing which have something in common. Both the drawing and the handwriting are like a 

seismograph of the soul (Golan, 2002). Lacan (in Golan 2002) says that handwriting is like the 

beginning of drawing, it is the continuation of thought's movement –from outside in. "Signs made with 

handwriting are like drawing, they appear through one's inquisitive wanderings. The way this 

materialises is embroidered on the paper. Not represented, not brought in from outside, but somehow 

coming into being out of the chaos of reflections" (Golan, 2002: 139). The constant encounter between 

141

the handwriting and the drawings moderates the tension of opposites this study already noted, and 

creates a feeling of commonality between the two languages, the two means of expression, and the two 

kinds of graphic signs. It seems that obstacles have been removed, the handwriting exposes and is 

exposed. Both drawing and handwriting are a kind of declaration that the barrier of silence has been 

removed, and a small window into the soul has been opened. 

This idea is strengthened by the appearance of added text, and the manner in which it pushes and 

scampers across the page increases the measure of speech and discourse. Here too the juxtaposition 

and relationship of 'Image and Writing' is significant. 

In some of the findings - (Fig.10a (1, 2, 3)) the page is equally divided between text and image. In 

others the image dominates and controls, while the text bursts through, in its predestined areas, usually 

around the neck. The dialogue is stretched by the struggle between the three components trying to find 

their place on the page, this struggle expressed in the invasive act. At first, the artist wishes to integrate 

her work with the empty spaces near the text. Later she covers the text and adds other text. The artist's 

incursion into the book, her spreading over the text and importing of new text, all these can be seen as 

a metaphor of the story of the lake and the earth that raise as the lake drains away. Both of these will be 

read as a metaphor of the story of the soul hidden in the appearance of the paintings and their shapes. 

The tension of opposites is accompanied by struggles and difficulties. This is expressed in Fig.10a (5). 

Here the artist paints lips, seals them in a frame and, in an act of defiance, adds another text (imported 

and pasted), underlines the latter in red, and on it writes "My Words Are Tears". Its sudden penetration 

and the way it stands out point to the urgency and importance of the statement. A struggle accompanied 

by pain. 

Fig. 10c (5, 12): 2 items - Letters and Tears – Findings from 'Data Group' (A1 (a)) 

Fig. 10c (12) seems to repeat, echo and illustrate what has been said in Fig. 10c (5). The handwriting 

appears where an eye should have been painted, as it were tears. 

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7.4.1 Dialogue – Texts Developing from Texts 

The handwritten texts developed out of the dynamics of creation or out of need. The outer stimulus to 

this process was the original printed text and in this section the study traces the development of the 

textual dialogue. 

5 

The study discerns two levels in the dialogue between the artist and the original book. One level is the 

artist painting in the book. The second one is her entering text which, at the beginning, appears to be 

just a visual component (texture and composition). The first hints that a dialogue might develop between 

the artist and the text came when the artist penetrated the text and marked certain words in it, so 

appropriating it as her own statement. The next stage is when the marked words become a source of 

inspiration for new texts. The original text turns into a store of materials on which she draws. There is 

now dialogue between two verbal texts. In this way she says in practice that the story of the book and all 

it implies is her own story. 

Artist’s diary: "I have marked sentences that caught my eye. I isolated them from their context and 

arranged different combinations. I write a poem or something. Some of these poems were 

handwritten in the book object and some were written here in my notebook" (A2 (b) – 7.3.04). "As 

always I quickly glance through the text and circle the sentences that catch my eye, and later I 

compose a poem from these sentences. Yes, Peter Merom inspires me both by his words and 

12 

143

his images, as well as giving me a home" (A2 (b) – 13.4.04). Lorand (1991) explains that in this way 

the artist builds a kind of complementary interpretation of the potential existing Materials (the local text, 

book, paints, thought etc.) 

The handwriting penetrates the painting as an unexpected and uninvited guest. This shows that the 

dynamics of the creative process have their own set of rules (Reinhart, 2000), their own motivation 

(Storr, 1991), their own language and significance (Noy, 1999). These dynamics bring in a story not yet 

known. The presence of the local text which is supposed to be only the basis for the emerging painting 

has stimulated the artist to react. One can see how "the process of creating the painting seems to 'take 

over', disconnected from the original intention. An image can grow by a line written in a certain manner 

or coincidental splashes of paint, or an accidental sign" (Schaverien, 1995: 92). 

Fig.10d (1, 2,) illustrates how words are marked, detached from the text and become independent text, 

a 'Readymade' of words. 

The process of choosing words and indications, separating them from the text and creating a new text 

from these materials is similar to the Dadaist approach mentioned earlier (chapter 6 – 'Book Object'). 

Here, too, the Dadaist approach peeks through, thus reinforcing the significance that arises and spreads 

from the text. From this one can deduct that there exists a state of revolt, of breaking norms, 

disassembling and reassembling, readymade, desecrating the holy and sanctifying the profane, creating 

something new from old. Identifying Dadaism in this work leads the reader to the motivations of the 

artist, the struggles within her and the need to escape to the sheltered world of childhood (Kreitler, 

1959), (Expansion of the analysis and sample can be seen in Appendix 2 p. 14 - 19). 

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7.5 Images with Handwriting text only 

7.5.1 Decoding words Intertextuality 

Fig. 11 presents combinations of images and handwriting. The images include photographs and images 

of the book itself, as well as portrait or parts of portraits images that the artist has added. 

Fig. 11(a): 3 Paintings - Images with Handwriting text only – Findings from 


1 

2 

When the handwriting goes on an independent journey the artist uses its ambivalence (of form and 

substance) in several variations as a decorative and ornamental, as well as a structural value (Fig. 11a 

(3)). She also uses it as a background and texture (Fig.11a (1, 2). In all the findings she makes use of 

handwriting as a compositional element but the content of the words also reverberate. 

Fig. 11b (1) shows that the handwriting is both background and texture, holding a dialogue with lines of 

the drawing. The use of a writing pen for both writing and drawing emphasises the features common to 

both. But one can also notice the energy created between opposite's ― between the circular, curly, 

flowing and horizontal form of the handwriting and the linear, crowded, fragmented and vertical lines of 

145 

3

the drawing. Soft and hard, pointed and rounded, flowing and fragmented, spacious and crowded - a 

wholeness of a creation composed of opposites. Like the Taoist approaches on which Jung (1993) 

bases his theory on the process by which uniqueness crystallise. 

In Fig. 11a (2) written words repeating themselves over and over create a formative arrangement which 

has texture, movement, rhythm, flow and ornamentation. 

In Fig.11a (3) the curly shape of the handwriting serves as a structure that builds an ornamental frame 

around a mirror or picture. 

Fig. 11(b): 2 Items – Drawing Dialogue - details 

Fig.10b (10): 1 item – Portrait covered with Handwriting – detail – Findings from 


Fig. 10b represents a portrait similarly covered with handwriting 

146

. 

1 

2 

147

The handwritten words cover the face, peek out of it or are next to it on the same level. All of them 

describe polyphony, palimpsest and bricolage. Next to these a dialogue of contrasts continues. Though 

one can notice an encounter between drawing and handwriting, a formative struggle takes place 

between soft and hard, straight and curved, thin and thick, transparent and opaque, vertical and 

horizontal. All of them together, like polyphony – present a product that in the end is harmonious. As in 

polyphonic music, they demand a special kind of listening. These findings serve as a metaphor for the 

Hebrew word for face (panim) which means surface as well as the face of a person, but contains within 

it the word pnim (interior, inside, inward, within),(Expansion of the analysis and sample can be seen in 

Appendix 2 p. 19 - 20). 

In the three situations described above the text consists of one sentence repeating itself in a steady 

sequence and rhythm. This repetition has formative meaning and is also significant from the point of 

view of content. A word that repeats itself again and again draws attention to itself and invites the reader 

to study the handwriting with care. Metaphorically, one could say that a silent revolt takes place in the 

book. The materials that invade the book start to behave as if they are not committed to it. This 

liberation carries a statement, and the statement appears as a kind of non-stop declaration ― letters 

that repeat themselves in sequence, over and over. 

The intertextual approach encourages the interpretative reader to hold on to these hints so as to expose 

the inner, deeper text. The sentence sequences that appear in these findings are "I have beautiful 

birds and they fly", "Soft mouth, flower", "Mirror, mirror tell me…" The study chooses one finding 

as example (Fig.11a (1)) as a point of departure to demonstrate the process of the Intertextuality 

decoding (the decoding of these findings is given in Appendix 2, p.22 -34). 

7.6 Images with text pasted on 


Findings 

Fig. 14: 3 Paintings - Images with text pasted on – Findings from 


148

1 

2 

The researcher differentiates between the situation when a full text is pasted on, and a sub-category 

when the pasted-on text is a heading or caption. 

The technique of pasting in a work of art belongs to the genre and style called collage, which appeared 

first in the creations of Cubist artists and was later used by the Dadaists as well. The latter considered 

collage work a work of art in its own right. They used bits of newspaper, photographs and paintings from 

other sources and considered this an indirect way of making statements without exposing the subject. 

The verbal collage was invented by Kurt Schwitters (1887- 1948) who was one of the founders of Dada. 

Collage enables the artist to use a borrowed voice and state his ideas by means of cultural symbols 

(Reinhart, 2000). 

In her diaries the artist describes how she chose texts to paste on: "When I turn the pages of 

newspapers I search for sentences and/or photographs that catch my eye. If it catches my 

attention, if it seems to be telling me something, I cut it out and save it" (A2 (b) – 18.4.04). In the 

spirit of Dadaism the ambivalent act of pointing appears here as well. There is a decision to chose, cut 

and paste, but the choice of materials and their placing is spontaneous and uncontrolled. This complex 

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3

process describes the integration of two mental processes – the primary - intuitive, associative and 

emotional and the secondary - logical and structured (Noy, 1999). 

This is similar to the art work of the American artist Barbara Kruger who uses advertising materials and 

newspapers in her creations (for instance, I shop therefore I am, 1987: We don’t need another hero, 

1986: Your body is a battleground, 1990). In this work the artist uses newspaper as material through 

which she expresses her ideas. In one area she brings together two kinds of print – book and 

newspaper – each of which represent something different, and from this she creates a work of art. The 

material combination delivers one message to which additional messages are added via the 

composition and the lingual collage. It represents also the dialectic between high and low culture 

(Strenger, 2005). 

Findings: 

Fig. 15(a, b): 11 Paintings – Image and Headings – Findings from 'Data Group' (A1 

(a)) 

150

5 

1 

9 

2 

6 

10 

In these images newspaper headings are taken out of context, pasted into a book and turned into part 

of a work of art. The placement of the heading is important because a headline in a newspaper or book 

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3 

7 

11 

4 

8

or work of art serve different purposes. The artist combines them in a collage and thus blurs the 

differences between the areas, breaks down borders, raises the lower and lowers the higher, adds 

voices to her own voice, and each added voice means additional significance and more content. 

Magritte, for instance, paints a pipe and writes under the painting "This is not a pipe". In this way he 

wants to emphasise the difference between the real thing and what is a representation of reality (in 

Hakkert, 1992). Fig.15a (3) here paraphrases Magritte's work. Placed above the portrait, and in the 

same colour, the artist pastes on the caption - IMAGE. By considering all the synonyms of this word – 

metaphor, simile, simulation, reflect, figure, picture and comparison – the work of art can be decoded 

through its different meanings. 

Kacen (2002) developed a method of analysis in qualitative research in which it is possible to produce 

and study meanings of life-stories from the headings only. She claims that the heading of a text is the 

key to understanding it, and refers to Lerner (1983) who states that though the heading seems to be 

external as far as the work itself is concerned, it actually instructs the reader how to read and 

understand it. 

The study presents several pictures combining heading and image and where the heading is a key for 

the analysis of the images. Knowing that the headings originated in newspapers, that they are supposed 

to serve a work of art and that, in general, they are a kind of key to interpretative reading – all this 

contributes to the Intertextual interpretative approach. 

The intertextual analysis and interpretation make it possible to expose the hidden text. This approach 

investigates the text via the hints that peek through, the signs, symbols, words, reminders and 

quotations. Anything found in the text can be a helpful tool and serve the interpretative reader. In this 

way the interpreter digs into the text, removes its outer layers and exposes the hidden messages 

(Azulay, 2006; Kristeva, 1989; Elkad-Lehman, 2006). The interpretative process creates a dialogue 

between the texts, the interpreter, and the author. The interpretative process with which the researcher 

(who is also the painter) copes is an adventurous development in which, during the process of analysis 

and interpretation, an inner and sub conscious truth is discovered by the researcher/creator. 

The example that the investigation wishes to present, and through which point at the potential of the text 

and this interpretative method, is taken from a finding that combines three different kinds of image and 

writing. Expansion of the analysis and sample can be seen in Appendix 2 p. 34 - 41). 

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Summary 

Ils 4: Image with Headings 

This chapter deals with the genre 'Image and Writing'. The decision to start with this category was 

because it is the key to a creation that is both a book and a work of art. The writing and the image are 

characteristic of the work of art and at the same time illustrate intertextuality and interdisciplinary. 

The encounters between Image and Writing reinforced what was stated earlier in Chapter 5, that at the 

moment when an artist chooses his materials he is unaware of either their significance or his motivation 

in making the choice. Only after the work of art appears to its creator can the decoding of its secrets 

begin. This chapter discusses the process of interpretation, which is by itself a kind of writing and thus 

adds more texts to those already present as data and findings. In the spirit of Dadaism the interpretation 

dealt with deconstruction, taking a text apart, which will be continued in the next chapters. The interpret 

shows how the findings display processes of dismantling and breaking up paintings and/or texts – a 

process of struggle and opposition that predicts new construction and growth because "to write means 

in a certain way to shatter the world (the book) and put it together again" (Barthes, 2007: 92). 

153

Ills 5: Collage – Image with Various Texts 

154


Introductory Summary 


PART II b 

VISUAL VALUES 

Chapter: 8 

COLOUR 

8.1.1 Black and White Paintings from the 'Book Object' and Other Contexts 

8.1.2 Meanings and Symbolism - Interpretations and Significance 




8.4.1 The Findings 

8.4.2 Meanings and Symbolism 

8.5 Dominant colour – Red 







Summary 

8.7.1 Contrast ― Yellow and Blue 

8.7.2 Complementarity ― Red and Green 

_______________ 

"Colours […] are not only symbols of an idea, 

symbols that are born in the artist's soul when he gets the momentum from the world's soul; 

his creations are symbols, and thanks to them he can pass on his ideato other souls" 

(Heinrich Heine) 

155


ILS. 6: Black and White -a 

156

Introductory Summary 

Having in Chapters 6 and 7 discussed the issues of 'Style and Genre'; the research now passes on to 

Visual Values. Visual Values have three sub-categories (see Diag. 8: Artistic Means: Tree of 

Categories) ― Colour/ Materials & Techniques/ and Organisation & Structure. In this chapter the study 

investigates the qualities of colour and colours, how they behave, what they mean and symbolise and 

the various forms in which they appear. 

The study will follow colour and try to learn from it the construction of a portrait reflects personal 

development. Continuing with the Intertextual approach to analysis and interpretation, the study will 

discuss theoretical approaches, the relevant literature, artistic and cultural contexts and other 

associations. For lack of space, not all of the works in all categories can be presented. The Categories 

that have been choosed considered to be the most presentable and essential. 

8.1.1 Black and White paintings from the 'Book Object' 

The 'Central unit of Analysis' in this study, the 'Book Object', contains many black and white paintings 

and images executed in different techniques (charcoal, pencil) and compositions (partial or complete). 


Fig. 18 (a, b, c): 15 paintings - Black and White – Findings from 


Those 15 findings are validated by seven large-sizes, single black and white paintings in 'Data Group' 

(B1 (a)) and by a further 2 in 'Data Group' (B1 (d)). 

Fig. 19: 7 paintings - Black and White - Finding from 'Data Group' (B1 (a)) 

Fig. 20: 2 paintings - Black and White - Finding from 'Data Group' (B1 (d)) 

157

1 

2 

5 6 7 8 

9 

11 

158 

12 

3 

10 

4

1 

13 

5 

2 

6 

159 

3 

15 

7 

4

1 

The artist chose to work for this study in a book of black and white photographs, in which she painted a 

large number of black and white self-portraits. Her use of black and white is so dominant and by that it 

explains that it is meaningful to her. In part, the artist was, in this, adjusting to the book itself: "I do not 

wish to negate its past totally. What I want to do is construct a new present for it, a present that 

relies and depends on its past" (A2 (a) – 7.4.03). The choice of black and white is apparently dictated 

by the book but the findings in Fig. 19 and 20 prove that black and white constituted a meaningful 

statement for the artist long before she chose the Dying Lake album as a working context. 

Fig. 21, with its paintings from the 1987, and Fig. 22 offer additional proof. 

Fig. 21: 2 Paintings -Black and White (1987) – Findings from 'Data Group' (B2) 

Fig. 22: 6 Paintings – Black and White - Findings from 'Data Group' (C1)) 

160 

2

1 

4 

1 

2 

5 

161 

2 

3 

6

8.1.2 Meanings and Symbolism - interpretations and significance 

The concepts that arose from the findings indicate an expressionistic painting style, and deal with the 

symbolism of the colours black and white. This is done in terms and techniques of light and shade. 

These concepts can be ties to cultural concepts and one can identify psychological contexts as well as 

decode the significance of the symbols. 

The expressionistic style identified in these findings shows that the artist is occupied with investigating 

her inner world. It is a type of work through which she expresses her stormy emotional world. This style 

indicates revolt, revolution, emotional upheaval and a profound need for personal expression (Bowness, 

1985; West, 2004). Mentioning this artistic stream shows that the artist is not interested in replicating 

reality but in investigating the reality of her inner world (Avramson, 1996; West, 2004). 

From the symbolism of the colours black and white one can learn about the tense contrasts that exist 

between them. The dialogue between them also describes the totality that is created between the 

contrasts (Jung, 1989, 1993). Each of the colours symbolises a different mental and emotional state. 

Black represents death, darkness and destruction, chaos, disintegration and limited time (Kreitler, 

1980). White represents growth and renewal (Ben Mordechai, 1994; Netzer, 2004; Goldberg, 2005). 

The encounter represents the struggle to achieve totality and mental wholeness which, according to 

Jung (1989, 1993), is the individuation and crystallisation of uniqueness. 

In the use of light and shade the artist employs a technique to create an illusion of three dimensions as 

well as point at her own temperament (Peiper, 1983). Here they appear as a metaphor of the artist's 

state, as she uses this technique while both investigating and painting her own portrait. 

The colours black and white are metaphor that leads also to psychological significance. These colours 

represent two states of consciousness. White represents clear and revealed consciousness while black 

represents sub consciousness (Jung, 1989). Jung (ibid.) describes the subconscious parts of the human 

mind as shades. They are hidden parts that are also considered negative. Meeting the shade and 

exposing it are ways to achieve peace and mental wholeness. 

Pinkola Este's (1997) considers the encounter between black and white to be like the cycle of the 

mental life, which she describes as life / death / life. This is a cycle of growth, wilting, struggle and 

162

enewal. Netzer (2004) points at the light that appears out of the dark being similar to growth emanating 

from struggle and chaos, like an alchemistic process. 

An intertextual interpretation follows the concepts, signs, symbols and hints that appear and peek out 

from the text. This interpretation makes it possible to connect them to those of other texts, phenomena, 

cultures and even to other texts of the same author. In Appendix 3, page 45 - 51 the extended 

interpretation will be found, strengthening the insights mentioned above, and reinforcing these via 

findings that arose from the artist's journals ( subjects: The Expressionist use of Black and White ; 

Symbolic Meanings ; Light and Shade ; Mental Aspects). 

ILS. 7: Black and White - b 

163


ILS. 8: Black and White and a Trace of Colour 

164

The strategy of the artist to keep close to the character of the Dying Lake book and paint in black and 

white takes a turn when one can notice colour creeping in. As the artist has just described in her 

journals, she felt a strong desire to add colour and end the asceticism of black and white. This caused 

inner conflict because she wanted to adhere to her first strategy, but at the same time an opposing 

voice appealed this decision, demanding to paint freely and demolish the rigidity of black and white. The 

black and white bloc faced another colour fighting to penetrate it. 

Fig. 23: 6 Paintings - Black and White with a Trace of Red – Findings from 'Data 


1 

4 

Fig. 23 show red penetrating into the black and white. 

2 

5 

165 

3 

6

Artist’s diary: "I have chosen the colour red […] I go wild and then restrain myself, go wild and 

again restrain myself" (A2 (a) – 5.2.04). The arrival of red shatters the unity of black and white. At the 

same time, the penetration is restrained, hesitant and rather marginal, both in extent and placement. 

The red does not cover the image and even though it appears to have entered a forbidden zone the 

artist sticks a heading on a red background saying: "There is nothing like owning your own house" (Fig. 

23 (3). But the road to the status of house-owner is full of conflict. In Fig. 23(5) the artist pastes a 

fragment of a red newspaper saying “Red in Black and White”. The appearance of red with black and 

white occurs in other 'Data Groups' too, see Figs. 24 and 25. These findings are confirmed by paintings 

from 1987, showing that the dialogue between black and white and incursions of red has a long history 

in the artist’s oeuvre, from which one can conclude that this incursion is also a statement. 

List of Findings 

Fig. 24 (a, b): 4 Paintings – Black and White with a Trace of Red – Findings from 

'Data Groups' (B1 (a)), (B1 (b)) and (C1) 

Fig. 25 (a, b): 7 Paintings - Black and White with a trace of colour – Findings from 

'Data Group' (B2) 

166

1 

1 

1 

2 

2 

167 

3 

3

6 

4 

The consistent penetration of red into a work, the primary visual definition of which is black and white, 

represents a challenge and a breaching of borders. Red is a colour that is "emotionally exciting and 

conveys power, force and decisiveness, sets afire, reflects joy, warmth and enthusiasm, but also 

threatens with violent aggressiveness to destroy and exterminate" (Kreitler, 1980: 70). Hence this 

invasion represents challenge, mutiny and daring which, together with the pain, impart a sense of 

vitality. "More than anything else [red] expresses the spirit of the fearless fighter, who fights for his 

cause against all odds[…] it points to a tendency to cope with challenges, gather forces and win the 

battle" (Ben Mordechai, 1994: 58). The encounter between black and red represents an encounter with 

mental drives without which no development can take place (Ballas, 2002). 

5 

168 

7

The penetration of this colour symbolises a turnabout not only from a visual aspect but also in the new 

atmosphere that enters the book because this colour is "the most exciting, happy, alive but annoying" 

(Ballas, 1996: 203). Just as in Chapter 7 the incursion of handwriting signalled feelings of ownership 

and entrepreneurship, so does the invasion of red here. 

The infiltration of red into black and white was only the beginning of the artist’s battle. It continued with 

other colours, but in smaller amounts and only in the 'Book Object'. Fig. 26 shows the infiltration of 

yellow and blue. 

Fig. 26: 2 Paintings – Black and White with Traces of Yellow or Blue – Findings 

1 


169 

2


ILS. 9: Chromatics Variations -a 

170

The colours infiltrating the black and white in Section 8.2 presaged the appearance of colour and as 

work on the 'Book Object' progressed, so the artist abandoned her initial decision to focus on black and 

white: "The more I got into the work, the more I started painting in layers, without thought. 

Colour after colour, more and more. I just went along without real plans" (A2 (a) - 31.8.04). The 

colours red, yellow and blue which penetrate the black and white paintings heralded the ‘era of colour’ 

that eventually settled permanently over the book object. Abundant colour, in turn, represented release 

and creativity: "I suddenly realised that if I worked according to a clear, exact and defined 

technique which gave safe results, it would bore me, it might kill my creativity" (A2 (a) - 10.2.04). 

As Baudelaire (in Dikman, 2003) says, drawing represents cognition, whereas painting typifies poetry 

and emotions. This situation represents a clash between cognition and emotion, between discipline and 

freedom: "First of all discipline, restraint, moderation, patience. Later will come the stage of 

letting go, I don’t know when, but at the moment it is not important to me" (A2 (a) – 20.2.04). "The 

struggle is not only between two kinds of painting, it is the good girl who wants to paint well and 

nicely, the way she understood in those days, versus the one who wishes to burst out and be 

expressive, creative, provocative, original, cheeky – it is a struggle for my life[…] I want to burst 

out and tell the world what I have to say, what I can say, the enormous powers blocked and kept 

inside me which have not yet come forth. How can I do all this?" (A2 (a) – 5.1.04). In other words, 

the struggle over how to paint is a metaphor for an inner struggle. In blue, yellow and red Mondrian saw 

the whole wide world (Balas, 2002). 

The trickle of colour turns into a permanent feature of the 'Book Object' becomes a statement of intent 

and an independent work unit. The original book, Song of a Dying Lake, was colourless and lifeless. A 

wealth of colour now revives it. A fresh wind blows over the lake and, assuming that the lake is also a 

metaphorical self-portrait, new winds penetrate the paintings too. "Colours are living creatures" says 

Kandinsky (quoted in Ballas, 1996: 187). He also said that when colours merged he sometimes heard 

singing. So the artist adds colour and life and even more colour to the song of the dying lake and in so 

doing invigorates the synaesthesia. Gauguin says: "In colour we have to seek the suggestion more than 

the description, like in music […] there is an effect that is caused by the arrangement of colours, lights 

and shades: this is called the music of the painting" (quoted in Ballas, 1996: 115). Matisse would say:" 

All the colours sing together" (ibid.) and Gauguin says about colour that it is "like the listening eye" 

(ibid.), thus strengthening the artist’s claim that in the 'Book Object' we "see" voices (Synaesthesia). 

171

Fig. 27 (a, b): 11 Paintings - Chromatics Variations – Findings from 'Data Group' 

(A1 (a)) 

4 

1 

Chromatics 

Variations 

9 

7 

5 

2 

10 

172 

6 

3 

8 

11

Fig. 27, shows the use of a variety of materials and techniques, layers of chalk and panda paints 

(findings 3, 4, 5, 6, 7), acrylics (findings 1, 2, 10, 11) and combinations of watercolours and felt pen 

(Findings 8, 9). 

The artist moves from restraint and discipline towards release and removal of barriers. This is 

expressed in moving from the ascetic colours (black and white) to a rich and colourful palette. At this 

stage the artist ignores the rules that the book (Song of the Dying Lake) and its photographs dictate as 

well as the rigid rules she had imposed on herself. As an expressionist painter she does not wish to 

represent an external reality, but listens to her own, inner voice. This voice is represented by various 

colours that are not necessarily those that appear in reality. The painting technique enables her to 

express her feeling openly and describe emotional unrest, freedom of thought and release from rules 

and norms (Peiper, 1983). The artist employs this technique to express her inner world, as well as to 

penetrate this world and expose it via subconscious signals and forms. In Appendix 3, page 51 - 52 one 

can find an expanded interpretation as well as more profound meanings. 

Fig. 28, whose findings all display colour, texture, encounters of line and blotch, contrasts and tones 

brush strokes confirms this approach from other 'Data Groups'. 

Fig. 28 (a, b): 9 Paintings – Chromatics Variations - Findings from 

'Data Groups' (B1 (b)) and (B2) 

173

1 

4 

2 

1 

5 

174 

3 

2 

6 

3

The image of the bird that appeared in Chapter 7 –'Image and Writing, and the pasted heading 

"Renaissance" described a transition from strict discipline to creative freedom. Black and white paintings 

represented the sadness and dying of the lake, the coloured paintings come and represent the lake's 

song, whether it is dying or anticipating its rebirth. 

ILS. 10: Chromatics Variations - b 

175


ILS. 11: Dominant Colour - Blue 

176

8.4.1 Findings 

Kandinsky considered "blue, yellow and red to be a potential reservoir of all the world's possible 

colours" (in Ballas, 1996: 201). Blue, this started as a hint of colour infiltrating black and white, went on 

to become a dominant colour. 


Fig. 29: 5 Paintings - Dominant Colour – Blue - Findings from 'Data Group' (A1 (a)) 

Fig. 30: 6 Paintings - Dominant Colour- Blue - Findings from 'Data Group' (B1 (b)) 

Fig. 31(a, b): 8 Paintings - Dominant Colour- Blue - Findings from 'Data Groups' 

(B1 (d)), (B2) and (C1) 

177

1 

4 

2 

4 

1 

178 

5 

2 

3 

3 

5 

6

1 

3 

1 

1 

179 

2 

4 

3 

2

8.4.2 Symbol and Significance 

Blue paintings appear in the entire artist’s 'Data Group's' and when a colour appears consistently and 

prominently it tells something. When the artist chooses to paint a self-portrait in blue, it is clear that she 

is not trying to depict nature or reality. She does not intend to describe some kind of truth, because, as 

Gauguin said, "in any case even nature does not promise truth. Truth is in the artist himself, in a 

mysterious centre of his thoughts and not around his eyes" (quoted in Ballas, 1996: 111). If that is the 

case, than in these findings the artist’s truth is expressed via the colour blue. 

The colour blue, like other findings, also expresses the duality of the positive and the negative. From a 

negative aspect, it describes tension, depression, exhaustion, self pity and hard feedings (Kreitler, 1980; 

Kandinsky, 1984; Wills, 2000; Goldberg, 2005). 

On the positive side, blue is regarded as delicate, softening, cool and calm. A colour that creates 

serenity, safety, peace and harmony, a feeling of order and responsibility, of spirituality and glory 

(Kreitler, 1980), like Maeterlinck's Blue Bird (1910). 

In addition to the fact that this colour represents the tension of contrasts, it holds additional meanings. 

This colour represents water which symbolises female creativity and observations into the depth of the 

mind (Pinkola-Este's, 1997). Water also symbolises the spiritual concept and desire for serenity, 

satisfaction and mental wholeness (Goldberg, 2005). Water and reflection hint at the story of Narcissus 

and to the phenomenon of Narcissism (about which more will be written in chapter 9 – Materials and 

Technique, when we discuss the technique of aquarelle). Blue also signifies the desire for perfection, 

the need for, and the stress of self examination, which are some of the characteristics of narcissism 

(Miller, 1992). More about this can be found in Appendix 3, page 53 - 56. 

180

8.5 Dominant Colour – Red 

ILS. 12: Dominant Colour – Red - a 

181

8.5.1 The findings 

"Wherever there is red it comes towards us" (Steiner, 1998: 65). Kandinsky (2002) says that red is the 

colour that bridges the abyss – "it has a perfect balance and much radiance. From the point of view of 

tensions, it is neither extroverted nor introverted" (Ballas, 2002: 41). 

Fig. 33 (a, b): 16 Paintings - Dominant Colour – Red - Findings from 


Fig. 38(a, b,): 9 Paintings - Dominant Colour - Red - Findings from 


182

1 

5 

13 

9 

2 

14 

3 

6 7 

10 

183 

15 

11 

4 

12 

16 

8

1 

Dominant 

colour - Red 

6 

4 

7 

2 

8 

184 

5 

3 

9

8.5.2 Red – Symbol and Significance 

The finding from 'Data Group' (B1 (b)) are presenting the red colour in various forms – as a single and 

dominant colour Fig. 38a(1,2), as a dominant colour among other colours Fig. 38a (4,5,6), and as both 

integrated and outstanding Fig. 38a,b,( 3,7,8,9,10). 

The colour red, like everything else in this study, carries double meanings: "It is the colour of the power 

of life's energies and emotions […] and also the pain and wound of the blood's red" (Netzer, 2004: 233). 

Some of the characteristics of red have been described in Section 8.2. Here others will be added: 

sensuality, desire, sexuality and instinctuality (Netzer, 2004: Fishman, 2008). 

The colour red raises the dimension of femininity, sensual sexuality and creativity. The process of 

intertextual reading can be likened to reading a detective story (Azulay, 2006) in which the reader holds 

on to hints that arise from the text, pulling on a thread that can either unravel or weave the fabric 

(Barthes, 2007). The dimension of sexuality of the colour red, hinted at here, is reinforced and validated 

via the interpretative, intertextual process that exposes additional images and symbols the colour of 

which is red (flower, lips). See Appendix 3, page 57 - 59. 

The colour red symbolises additional characteristics: the desire to win, decisiveness, the wish to 

struggle and competitiveness (Lűsher, 1986). Besides its feminine and sexual aspects, it also 

represents a male aspect and some masculine characteristics such as the need to fight and win 

(Goldberg, 2005). Examples for this can be found in the extended interpretation in Appendix 3, p. 60 - 

64. 

ILS. 13: Dominant Colour - Red - b 

185


ILS. 14: Dominant Colour Yellow - a 

186


Fig. 42: 7 Paintings - Dominant Colour - Yellow - Findings from 


Fig. 43: 5 Paintings - Dominant Colour – Yellow - Findings from 


5 

1 

2 

6 

187 

3 

4 

7

Dominant 

Colour - 

Yellow 

3 

1 

4 

ILS. 15: Dominant Colour – Yellow - b 

188 

2 

5

8.6.2. Yellow – Symbol and significance 

Like the colours black and white, the colour yellow, too, has two faces and contains contrasts 

(Kandinsky, 1984). This colour reinforces the phenomenon of contrasts, the struggle and the need to 

unite them. At the same time, the colour yellow adds additional characteristics. In certain situations, 

when it is pure and clean, it represents pleasure, purity and nobility. When the colour is dirty it describes 

shame, nausea and discomfort (Goethe in Ballas, 1996). Its negative aspects also represent tension 

and exhaustion, while its positive side symbolises higher thinking processes, spirituality, wisdom and 

creativity (Ben Mordechai, 1994). 

In the artist's journals one can see the struggle taking place in her mind. On one hand we find tiredness 

and lack of confidence in herself and her creative ability, and on the other hand there exists a creative 

and intellectual process. Both are embodied in the colour yellow. The extended interpretation describes 

this, adds depth and significance and reinforces these insights via her journals and other findings. See 

Appendix 3, p. 64 - 66. 

189


8.7.1 Contrast ― Yellow and Blue 

ILS. 16 – Contrast – Yellow and Blue 

190

Regarding the dialogue between colours, two phenomena have shown up from the analysis. One is 

contrast –the encounter, hot and cold, between blue and yellow. The other is the complementarity of red 

and green. Van Gogh, in letters to Bernard in 1888, wrote "more than anything I deliberately exaggerate 

the yellows and blues […] there is no blue without yellow […] and if you put blue there […] you must put 

yellow". He describes his Sunflowers as a "symphony in blue and yellow" (quoted in Ballas, 1996: 107). 

In the 'Book Object' we have seen that yellow and blue are dominant colours. But the 'Book Object' is a 

single complete work, a 'Readymade', so that the combination of colours in it must be seen as a whole. 

The researcher also presents instances of complementarity and contrast in other data groups. 

Fig. 44 (a, b): 4 Paintings – Contrast - Blue and Yellow – Findings from 

'Data Groups' (B1 (b)) and (C1) 

191

1 

4 

2 

The encounter between blue and yellow is "equivalent to the basic, strong contrast of black and white 

(dark and light)" (Ballas, 1996: 107). Kandinsky (1984) says that yellow is the colour nearest to light, 

whereas blue always belongs to something dark. Therefore one can see that the combination of blue 

and yellow reconstructs, to some degree, what has already occurred when black and white met. 

"Polarity is the eternal formula of life" says Goethe (quoted in Ballas, 1997: 197) and this is a blessed 

polarity which creates the "great counterpoint", which Kandinsky describes as a deafening symphony of 

192 

3

sounds. The two colours polarity of light and dark symbolises the purest polarity from which all colours 

emanate. Each of these colours contains within it the contrasting meanings and symbolisms that were 

mentioned earlier in this chapter but together they create an encounter of contrasts which sums to a 

broad totality. 

The consistent juxtaposition of blue and yellow testifies to the involvement of the artist in her own inner 

world. Goethe says "Painting solely in yellow and blue will be more internal than a painting in the three 

basic colours" (quoted in Ballas, 1995: 177). 

193


ILS. 17: Complementarity – Red and Green 

194

In the encounter of the elementary colours, red and green, each serves as a negative image of the other 

(Kreitler, 1980). A mixture of the same blue and yellow we have been talking about produces green, but 

green also appears openly, by itself, as a colour that conducts a dialogue with its complementary colour, 

red. 

Fig. 45: 7 Paintings – Complementarity - Red and Green – Finding from 


1 

2 

3 

5 

195 

4 

6 

7

Kandinsky (1984) claims that in more than one way red and green are born from the contrasting duo of 

yellow and blue. Green is a product of the physical combination of yellow and blue but red is the product 

of their spiritual combination. Red is born in a "mysterious birth, via the simultaneous tendencies of 

yellow and blue to both distance and raise themselves" (Ballas, 1996: 200). The encounter of red and 

green in the 'Book Object' is the outcome of the massive presence of blue and yellow. Just as paintings 

are born to paintings, so red and green conduct a dialogue of complementarity. 

Azulay (2006) claims that a text has a subconscious. The hermeneutic approach searches for the 

ideational connections between text, author and reader (Ricoeur, 1981). Reinhart (2000) states that the 

artist knows, without knowing why and how he make his choices, and she adds and reinforces this idea 

as she studies creations of Dadaists. One can discern this phenomenon in the present work as well. An 

example of that appears in connection with complementary colours, when the contents of both the 

writing and its form indicate it, like a hint peeking out of the text (Appendix 3, p. 67). 

The colour green also carries with it the double meaning of growth and decomposition. "In life it shows 

in new spring foliage and in decomposition in the colour of mould on rotting vegetables" (Wills, 2000: 

61). Thus someone who describes decomposition and the state of the dying lake is united with one end 

of the green range. 

The complementarity of red and green― and perhaps their contrast too – hot and cold ― features in 

other 'Data Groups' too. 

Fig. 47(a, b): 12 Paintings - Red and Green - Findings from 'Data Groups' (B1 (b)), 

(B1 (d)) and (C1) 

196

Red 

& 

Green 

1 

3 

1 

2 

5 

2 

197 

1 

3 

6 

4 

4 

7

The findings in Fig. 47 do not describe a pure encounter between red and green but their transition 

between hot and cold. Sometimes the red is warmed by yellow and moves towards orange, or it is 

cooled by blue towards purple. The same happens with green: it is warmed by yellow or cooled and 

darkened by blue. But the dialogue between red and green is the most prominent of all. 

The yellow that warms green revitalises it and gives it active power. Put together with red, one can then 

see a warm colour system of vitality, activity, storm and power. When green is cooled by blue it gains 

another kind of active power, serious and contemplative (Kandinsky, 1984). These are states that create 

equilibrium between intelligence and emotion (Goldberg, 2005). 

Intertextualism uses anything that comes from the text in order to expose what is hidden in it and what it 

contains in its inner layers. The artist produces a whole series of paintings the subject of which is a 

'leaf'. A leaf which seems to be known in nature as a green leaf appears in red colours, thus containing 

the complementary colours of red and green. This subject appears in a number of variations in the 

findings, and enriches the understanding of this category. The process of identification, analysis and 

interpretation of the 'green leaf' can be found in Appendix 2, p. 68 - 76. 

Colours as contrast and complementarity, as the encounter between hot and cold, complete the artist’s 

description of the struggle between polarities which is, in fact, the path to growth and a complete, totally 

harmonic unit. 

Summary 

A considerable number of findings in black and white have led the reader to confront the meanings that 

are derived from them as symbols that represent a statement, a form of work, a concept in art, an 

encounter with a school of art and a window into the mental world. The findings in the central unit of 

analysis echo findings from other data groups, thus strengthening and substantiating the strong 

statements that are the basis for the choice of black and white. 

The significance derived from this analysis alludes to meanings that have already been shown from 

other findings, in former chapters. In this way they confirm and add to the statement. From this the study 

deduct that there exists an inner truth in the text that appears again and again from the various artistic 

means, whichever they are. 

This category of black and white represents a struggle, and as the artist states, even a struggle between 

her wish to add colour to her work and the insistence to remain working in black and white. This struggle 

198

is expressed in a number of findings which were defined as a category of trickling colour in the category 

of black and white. 

The artist worked first with black and white and later confronted it with colour. After presenting the two 

extremes the discussion moves into the space between them to deal separately with each of the 

elementary colours ― red, blue and yellow ― which were introduced in the section on the infiltration of 

colour into black and white. When they penetrated the black and white, each of these colours not only 

forecast the coming of colourful to the book object but also projected itself as a dominant colour. 

199

Chapter 9: 

TECHNIQUES AND MATERIALS 

ILS. 18: Mixed Media 

200



9.2 Dialogue between Line and Tone of Colour 

8.2.1 Findings and Interpretation 



9.4 Aquarelle 



Summary 

8.5.1 Findings and Interpretations 

___________ 

"Drawing is a struggle between nature and artist, 

in which the better the artist understands nature, the easier he will win. 

From his point of view, it is not about 

copying but about interpreting in a simpler and clearer language". 

(Charles Baudelaire) 

201


"Drawing is a struggle between nature and artist, in which the better the artist understands nature, the 

easier he will win. From his point of view, it is not about copying but about interpreting in a simpler and 

clearer language"(Charles Baudelaire, 2003; 50). 

9.1.1 

The findings presented in Chapter 7, Section 7.1, Black and White, are also the findings that represent 

the technique of drawing. 

Drawing is the seismograph of the soul, says Golan (2002). It reflects consideration and thought: it 

allows the artist to experiment, to scribble creatively, and to exercise fluency, to conduct fundamental 

investigations into form, space and structure (Peiper, 1983). It is intimate, a kind of conversation 

between the artist and himself, as well as an intellectual and investigative expression. It is also a 

struggle between the artist’s outer and inner reality, a clash of forces (Baudelaire in Dikman , 2003) and 

its outcome reflects the crisis between those forces – between what the artist observes and thinks and 

what is created on the page (Hefetz in Ofek, 2003). Drawing is also a "technique that testifies to the 

artist’s ability, it is a challenge to his skill and professional self-image" (Peiper, 1983:162-163). 

The artist uses this technique frequently, which points to a struggle to cope with her self image. With 

this technique the artist wishes to improve her skills, to investigate the face, research the painting and 

achieve results. She uses drawing as part of a strategy she decided on when she invaded the art book 

(black and white photography), and finds that this is the right way to be integrated with the product she 

has chosen as a basis for her work. Thus she conducts a dialogue with the technique of photography 

while both techniques apparently aim to represent reality. At the same time, being occupied with 

drawing, with the pencil, points at an inner dialogue, personal and intimate (Golan, 2002.( 

The technique of drawing is alternately represented here in pencil or charcoal, as each of these 

represents different temperaments and kinds of activity, and indicates different mental and creative 

processes. 

202

The use of this technique and these materials represent the struggle between the contrasts, between 

freedom and discipline, between obeying the rules and the need to break them. These characteristics 

which are present here in great force via the technique of drawing with pencil and charcoal are also 

found in the journals of the artist. Appendix 4, p. 80 -82 describes the processes in full and reinforces 

the claims based on these findings. 

ILS. 19: Drawing – Charcoal and Pencil 

203

9.2 Dialogue between Line and Tone of Colour 

ILS. 20 – Dialogue – Line and Tone of Colour - a 

204

The dialogue between line and Tone of Colour represents a discourse between visual signs, the tension 

between two states. The line is the 'standing border' as opposed to the Tone of Colour, which is the 

'hopping form' (Wolfflin, 1969). The line defines shapes, fixes them, hence it is strong and unequivocal. 

At the same time, the various combinations of the line that create movement or density each describe 

different situations (Peiper, 1983). The directions that lines take symbolise female or male variations 

(circular, thick, straight, sharp, etc.). Lines also describe mental states (Ballas, 2000). Downward lines 

describe states of sadness whereas upward lines depict joy and excitement (Kreitler, 1980). Among 

themselves, lines can convey a tension similar to the tense dialogue between line and Tone of Colour. 

The spherical and amorphous shapes of patches of colour together with clear and angular lines 

represent the duality of Eros and Thanatos (Vardi, 2007). Feelings of fear and anxiety oppose an 

explosion of vitality and creativity. Each of these applications expresses a different thinking, different 

mental states and their appearance together is the unification of contrasts. 


Chapter 8 presented a dialogue between colours as content (hot and cold, contrasting and 

complementing). Here the research presents the colour as a medium and describes the different 

encounter, originating in the ways colours have been used. 

Fig. 50 (a, b): 10 Paintings – Line and Tone of Colour - Findings from 'Data Group' 

(A1 (a)) 

205

5 

1 

6 

2 

206 

7 

3 

4 

Details & examples

8 

Line encounters Tone of Colour in different forms and materials. Each encounter expresses and 

symbolises something different. In some encounters the images themselves are described in lines or 

colour patches (Fig. 50a (1, 2, 5, 6)). Fig. 50a (3) shows an encounter between shapes and materials 

with lines placed on a complex of patches. In other findings, there is a combination of line as writing, 

scribble and aquarelle, a decorative line next to layers of colour, and so on. All the encounters describe 

meetings of different forms of expression, symbolising a variety of statements, but their presence in one 

area creates harmony and gives the painting its structure. The painting that combines them turns the 

dialogue of contrasts into an encounter that creates wholeness and harmony. 

Fig. 51 (a, b): 11 Paintings – Line and Tone of Colour - Findings from 'Data 

Groups' (B1 (a)) and (B1 (b)) 

Fig. 52 (a, b, c): 9 Paintings – Line and Tone of Colour -Findings from 'Data 

Groups' (B1 (d)), (C1) and (B2) 

9 

207 

10

Dialogue 

– Lines 

and 

Tones of 

colours 

1 

6 

9 

208 

4 

7 

2 

10 

5 

8 

11

1 

5 

1 

2 

209 

4

1 

4 

These findings show that the encounter between line and Tone of Colour has been a means of 

expression typical of the artist's work over many years, and in all Data Groups. It is an encounter which 

creates an energetic tension between softness and decisiveness, brightness and blurring, borders and 

non-borders, closeness and openness. Two means of expression that describe different emotional and 

experiential states. The dialogue between line and tone of colour reminds the reader to some extent of 

the inner dialogue within drawing― between charcoal and pencil. Or the dialogue between black and 

white and other dialogues too. 

2 

Further, the artist makes use of this encounter between line and the tone of colour to create a layering, 

in which layers of dense lines overlie foundations of patches of soft colour. The patch peeks out from 

between the lines and the lines create a kind of network that both hides and lets the hidden material 

peek through. The layers take the viewer back to the ideas of stratification too, which are all symbols of 

Intertextuality, Bricolage and Polyphonies. The artist describes this in her journal: "I have gone 

through layer over layer over layer: I focused, drew outlines and another transparent layer, and 

210 

3

lurred everything. I painted thin, transparent layers onto opaque layers, darkened shadows, 

emphasised by outlining, and again a white, transparent layer to unify everything" (A2 (a) – 

10.2.04). The artist creates contrasts, feels them and wishes to unify them and create something whole 

and homogenous. 

ILS. 21: Dialogue – Line and Tone of Colour - b 

211


ILS. 22: Repeating Patterns 

212

A repeating pattern is a form of expression mainly meant for decoration and adornment (Peiper, 1983) 

and found mainly in crafts – textiles, architecture, objects and utensils― where it frequently satisfies 

man's basic need for beautification and his desire for aesthetic pleasure. The repetitive sequence can 

take the form of lines or shapes can emphasise colours, traces of brush strokes and even images. A 

repeating pattern thus creates a texture which alludes to folk crafts, but it also points to planning and a 

set objective (Peiper, 1983). Since the artist of this study is not dealing in applied art, it is important to 

investigate what significance these repeating patterns have in her work. 


In Chapter 7, Writing and Image, the research discussed the concept of a repeating pattern, in the form 

of a word or sentence recurring in regular sequence, regular spacing and over a period of time. Here the 

research will discuss this phenomenon from a visual point of view. 

Fig. 53: 6 Paintings - Repeating Patterns – Findings from 'Data Group' (A1 (a)) 

Fig. 54: 4 Paintings - Repeating Patterns- Findings from 'Data Groups' (B1 (b)) 

and (B1(c)) 

213

1 

4 

4 

5 

2 

2 

214 

3 

6 

3 

1

At first glance such patterns (Fig. 51) seem not to belong in the 'Book Object' since the artist declares 

that her aim is to paint portraits. At the same time, the findings show that the repeating pattern shows up 

in several variations, so that one must assume that it has significance beyond what is actually visible. 

The Intertextual approach to analysis enables to interpret the meaning of these repeating patterns. 

The concepts of mask and tribal art were found and identified in the text with the aid of the intertextual 

analysis. These concepts appear in various forms: written, painted or pasted. Their obvious presence 

invites the interpreter to search for the meaning they give the text. The mask corresponds with Jung's 

persona (1993), thus once more the text hints at what is revealed and what is hidden. What covers 

what, what replaces what. This topic has been raised earlier via the genre and images in impressions 

and in writing (Chapter 7). Appendix 4, p. 83- 84 examines a number of images, investigates the 

connection between them, connects them to each other and to various cultures, and creates an 

intratextual and an intertextual dialogue. 

In this category one can find additional contexts which reverberate to other works of art. The pattern that 

repeats itself touches on subjects such as mass culture, high and low culture, Andy Warhol. These 

subjects are only alluded to in this category, but gain force in other categories. Repeating patterns are 

created while working with a variety of techniques, among which is the technique of dismantling and 

assembling (which will be discussed separately in chapter 10). These techniques make it possible to 

place the materials for creating in such a manner that they are available, side by side, one inside the 

other or one on top of the other. It is then possible to build the new on top of the old, the new from the 

old, to change and enlarge (Strenger, 1999, 2005). Here we turn to concepts such as 'ready – made' 

and bricolage, each of which describes a post modern phenomenon as does intertextualism. Each one 

of these concepts adds another layer to the understanding of the artist's mood and the way in which she 

researches and designs her portraits. Further interpretation of intertextuality will be found in Appendix 4 

page 86 - 100. 

ILS. 23: Ancient Cultures 

215

9.4 Aquarelle 

ILS. 24: Aquarelle 

216

The technique of aquarelle is based on colour diluted in a large quantity of water. As a result, the colour 

becomes liquid, spreads over the surface, transparent, and the painting becomes translucent and airy. 

Peiper (1983) writes that the artist can, with fluency and flexibility, control water colours but that at the 

same time these colours have a life of their own: "Water colours express in their own way the wish and 

desire to control next to the will to create an opening for creativity and be an uncontrolled source of 

surprise" (p. 156). Water colours, while demanding expertise and technical meticulousness, also allow 

for unexpected development, because they cannot be demarcated. 


Aquarelle is a prominent component of 'Data Group' (A1 (a)) and does not recur in other Data Group. It 

is therefore significant. 

Fig. 65 (a, b): 5 Paintings – Aquarelle – Findings from 'Data Group' (A1 (a)) 

Fig. 66: 5 Paintings – Aquarelle - Findings from 'Data Group' (B1 (d)) 

217

1 

4 

3 

Aquarelle 

2 

5 

1 

4 

218 

3 

5 

2

This technique introduces the subject of water into the discourse. The study presented the subject of 

water, its symbolism and profound significance, in earlier interpretations (for instance, Song of a Dying 

Lake, the Song of the Sea, the colour blue). Water is bound to the female element, to descent into the 

depths, to investigating the soul. Here, the artist adds another dimension ― transparency, reflection and 

gazing in a mirror. 

The use of aquarelle paints returns the motif of water to centre stage. The same water that has been 

mentioned in the analysis of the book's title (Chapter 6 – 'book object') and later hinted at via the colour 

blue. Here water appears in full force via the aquarelle technique. Water alluded to in this category 

carries along additional, profound meanings. Here it deals with reflection, hence the object – mirror. 

Pinkola-Este's (1997) talks about 'the river below the river', which is the instinctive and creative soul of a 

woman. The river's water can be in abundance, pure and flowing, describing feminine creativity, as 

compared to the stagnant water of a swamp that chokes and halts creativity, holds back the soul and 

prevents its development. This is the water of a river. 

The water of a lake also appears here in several ways, reverberates the story of Narcissus, an 

occupation with the 'self', the significance of the reflection and the appearance of the mirror as a 

reflecting object which is also the starting point of this research ('mirror encounter'). 

The intertextual analysis leads the reader between the various hints, the writing, the images, the 

paintings of water, via the artist's journals and finally to the findings from data of the second order. All of 

these correspond with the artistic and psychological meanings of the story of Narcissus, stories of the 

mirror and their significance as part of a developmental process. All this can be found in greater detail in 

Appendix 4, p . 

101-111 

219


ILS. 25: Mixed Media 

220

The terms 'collage' and 'assemblage' are French for ‘pasting together’ and ‘combination’, techniques for 

creating a work of art from industrial materials and objects (Peiper, 1983). The materials change into 

concrete and real means of artistic expression. Braque and Picasso were the first to employ a wide 

range of materials and allusions to real objects in their Cubist works and the Dadaists continued the 

trend. A variety of materials became part of art – textiles, newspaper fragments, rope, wire, nails, bits of 

cork, scrap iron and much more. Just as the written word invaded works of art so did materials, to 

become meaningful both as technique and as statement of emotion, thought and opinion. The materials 

became a component part of the painting as well as ancillary means and metaphors for ideas 

(Tumarkin, 1994; Netzer, 2004). 


Datum (A1 (a)), the 'Book Object', is itself an artefact of mixed materials. Its material both served as a 

basis for the artist’s painting and also turned the work into an object. It represents many combinations of 

materials and assorted collages. The artist cut, pasted, attached and added: "I continued to play with 

the book […] cut here, glued here" (A2 (a) – 13.6.06). Focused on a central flower from the former 

page. I created a window for it from the new page and framed it […] to cut a window from the 

new page and add to it the part protruding from the old page" (A2 (a) – 23.3.06). 


Fig. 71: 7 Paintings - Mixed Media – Findings from 'Data Group' (A1 (a)) 

Fig. 71 (3, 5) combines a variety of materials: Fig. 71 (6, 7) – newspaper fragments and headlines: Fig. 

71 (3) – pasted drawings: Fig. 71 (1, 2) ― pictures from newspapers: Fig.71 (5) – shavings from a 

pencil sharpener. In the next series of findings (Fig. 72) a mix of materials is used not as part of the 

painting's structure or surface but to prepare its base. 

Fig. 72: 4 Paintings – Mixed Media - Findings from 'Data Group' (B1 (b)) 

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1 

1 

4 

5 

2 

6 

222 

3 

2 

3 

4 

7

When the artist chooses a book as the foundation of a painting and when she prepares her painting 

surface, she does not take the page of the book for granted as the base for her introduced paintings. In 

a kind of ritual she prepares the painting’s base as if she were clearing a special and unique "place" for 

her work. At first, the chosen place was the book of photographs, later it became a page with text or 

photographs, and finally it turned into bases prepared from a range of materials: "I have prepared a 

new base for the next work. Again a whole ceremony goes into its preparation. A Bristol board 

70 x 100 – plastic glue all over the board. Green, crumpled cleaning paper on the board, glued, 

and glue brushed on them from the bottom up, wide strips of masking tape across the page at 

regular intervals. And covered with white gesso. It is drying on the wall, waiting for tomorrow" 

(A2 (a) – 8.8.04). 

"The first work, on the prepared base (crêpe paper, plastic glue, gesso – lovely texture) […] what 

interested me was to preserve this texture. With the idea of texture and other available materials 

which happened to be near, I took a work-cardboard that had been here for quite a while. It had 

stains on it, remnants of former work, including traces of template frames. I felt like painting on 

it […]. I went to work with plaster and spatula. It seems that what interests me at the moment is 

the texture and material" (A2 (a) – 13.8.04). "Long ago I would tell myself that one day I would 

take the yellow roll of soft cloth I have at home, what is called a disposable tablecloth. It was left 

in the house from some celebration or other, and one day my eye fell on it and I decided to work 

on it, on the whole roll" (A2 (a) – 1.6.04). 

The artist does not consider the painting’s base a tabula rasa. The choice of materials, the rough 

textures, the different layers, all this can be read as a metaphor for the depth of the text. Creating these 

layers turned each page in the book into something with a history, an archaeological page. This reminds 

Ehrenzweig's (1967) explaining that a painting has two levels – the surface and the deep level. The 

Intertextual approach too discusses upper and lower levels – an infrastructure of text. 

One sees in this the artist’s need to control the materials she collects and use them to create her 

portraits, and it recalls Strenger (1999) describing how each person utilises the materials of his life, 

takes ownership of them, and with these materials creates his own self. Or (2005) describes a patient of 

her: "He gives expression to a feeling of disassembling and splitting, is involved in destruction and 

construction: he tears, cuts, joins, glues […] the art materials enable him to dramatize and revive his 

inner struggle, a struggle between a destructive instinct and the healthy energy of life. Symbols of good 

and bad, Satan and angel, represent different sides of his inner conflict" (p. 82). Nowell-Hall (1995) 

writes how a patient created a 'self-portrait' out of layered paper towels and compared it to tearing the 

skin off one's face. The work showed him his own self-destructiveness. Thus, the layers of a painting set 

223

up a dialogue between themselves, as well as constituting the text’s intertextual inner voice. Defences 

are destroyed― Winnicott's (1971) various layers of the false self. 

The way in which the artist prepares a base for her painting sounds and looks like a ritual or the rules of 

a game. Huizinga (1966) connects art, play and ritual and sets out their common attributes. Winnicott 

(1971) shows the connection between play and creativity, and finds that these are the conditions 

necessary for mental development and for cultivating the authentic self. So here, the artist fabricates a 

defined space and environment for herself, gave it a personal dimension by deciding which materials to 

use to shape and frame her work. One might say she was creating her own playground, or as 

Winnicott's described it (1971), the environment to support her activities. She is creating an environment 

to enable her to create, an environment that Winnicott would call 'transitional space', in which play and 

creativity make it possible for the individual to develop and find solutions in times of crisis. At the same 

time, the use of materials itself enables one to get into the concentration of play (Ryce and Menuhin, 

1993). Freud (1988) compares the use of materials to a sublimated reconstruction of the anal period 

and the need to play with bodily secretions ―all pointing to the longing for childhood, where personality 

starts to develop. 

The artist’s combination of materials is refined and 'tailored' in a way that is hard to discern at first sight. 

All the base materials are 'hidden' by the painting. The artist made similar use of materials (cloth, 

wooden planks, and glass fragments, bits of newspapers, cotton wool, chicken wire and gypsum) in 

previous years, as can be seen in findings from 'Data Group' (B2.) 

Fig. 73 (a): 6 Paintings – Mixed Media - Findings from 'Data Group' (B2) 

224

225

In these works the materials show themselves openly as part of the composition and images in the 

painting's structure, unlike the materials processed as base for Findings B1(b). The Dadaist, 

'Readymade' artist and the post-modernist Bricolage artist both collect materials from the scrapheap 

and create art from them. They are not prisoners of dictated, fossilising concepts. These B2 findings are 

part of the artist’s one-woman exhibition, My Environment and Me, and are composed of materials taken 

from her immediate environment (pieces of furniture, baby diapers, bits of clothing and sculpture 

netting). She put them together in the format of a painting to make a coherent, flowing and integrated 

work of art. The component materials are made obvious in order to reflect the reality and facts of her life 

and from them she creates a work of art -- as Strenger (1999, 2005) emphasise after Foucault turn life 

into a work of art. 

Summary 

This chapter has discussed the ways in which the artist gives expression to the dialogue she conducts 

between her reflection in the mirror and her role as artist-recorder-researcher. The chapter is dominated 

by the Expressionist style, whose chief concern is the use of a range of materials to give expression to 

the artist’s inner world. The material is the message. The materials and the way they are deployed do 

not aim to serve external reality and nature but to reflect the artist’s inner world. A range of materials, 

methods and means conduct a dialogue with the format, with the model in the mirror – the image – as 

starting point, source of inspiration, as object to be contemplated and investigated. What happens on 

the painting base tells the image’s story through encounters between colours – translucent or opaque, 

in the form of line or patch, in multiple materials and layers. Technique and material together tell the 

story of the image, not as replication or photographic reproduction, but as interpretation which 

complements and makes use of the potential materials of reality. 

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Chapter 10: 

STRUCTURE AND ORGANISATION 

ILS. 26: Structure and Organisation 

227



Summary 


________________ 

"First of all you must have the facts, 

then you can distort them as much as you like" 

(Mark Twain) 


This section discusses the structure of a painting and the way its components are organised -- their 

size, weight, mass and their relation to each other and the space they occupy. In the paintings analysed 

the one constant starting point is a portrait, in most cases painted frontally and occupying the whole 

frame. This portrait, however, appears in several variations and sizes and in different relations to the 

size of the page. Sometimes only parts of it are shown, sometimes isolated facial parts. The researcher 

chooses to investigate this under the heading of ‘organisation and structure’ because she considers the 

portrait as a constant form (after all, a face is a face). The portrait may be cut up, taken apart, 

reconstructed, squeezed into the frame or spacious, full or partial. Every variation in the paintings is a 

different treatment of the form and the given structure. At issue, therefore, are concepts such as broken, 

partial, dismantled, complex, and doubled and other forms. 

In the super-category named 'Organisation and Structure' two further sub-categories were detected, 

'Position and Location', and 'Size'. This chapter presents findings only from the current sub-category, 

'Dismantling and Re-assembling' however, since the findings and conclusions from the other two more 

or less repeat the findings and conclusions from this one. The intertextual interpretation in this sub- 

category also uncovers some of the references which emerge from the other two. 

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Fig. 74 (a, b, c): 15 Paintings – Parts of Faces - Findings from 'Data Group' (A1 (a)) 

Partial Faces / Parts of the face – Nose and Lips / Parts of the face – Eyes 

1 

4 

2 

5 

229 

6 

3

7 

10 

13 

8 

11 

14 

230 

15 

9 

12

Fig. 75 (a, b): 6 Paintings – Part of Faces - Findings from 'Data Group' (B1 (d)) 

Parts of the Face 

3 

5 

1 

This disassembly of whole portraits appears mainly in 'Data Groups' (A1 (a)) and (B1(c)). A distant 

allusion to it has already appeared in (B2), the 'Object Book', in which the facial form is broken up in the 

pieces of a broken mirror. Here the artist does the breaking up herself. In her mind she takes the face 

apart and re-paints it. Since the artist looking in the mirror sees her full image, it is clear that what we 

have here is a conscious decision (of unknown motivation) to present a broken or partial portrait. 

231 

4 

6 

2

Picasso, in his Cubist work, did the same. He observed a model and the portrayed it broken, fragmented 

and multifaceted. Vardi (2007) terms this the "destruction of form". In breaking up his forms Picasso was 

alluding to the breaking of norms and conventions. He did this at a time when artists wanted to destroy 

forms in all areas of culture. The Impressionist school started by blurring the form, and later the 

Expressionists rejected form, distorted and took it apart without hesitation. Vardi (2007) explains that 

this is a natural process. Anything that ripens eventually rots. The facial parts that the artist paints on 

the pages of a book (that tells the story of a dying lake) allude to each other. She destroys the form and 

takes it apart, just as the book tells a story of destruction and rotting in a lake formerly full of life. 

According to the theory of Pinkola- Este's (1997) this is the rotting that, psychologically, causes the 

blockage of female, creative energy. 

Kreitler (1980) discusses the "fracture of constructs", with the breaking up of long-lasting constructs, that 

have "a permanent, well known and accepted form, with their own characteristics" (p. 80). "A good 

construct is [defined as] one that embodies regularity, symmetry, unity and harmonies […] in which no 

changes or distortions have been formed"(p. 86) - the kind of construct that reflects a desire to bring 

situations into equilibrium and harmony and create feelings of comfort and ease. A broken construct or 

form works in the opposite direction, it expresses tension, discomfort and lack of serenity. 

The facial parts discussed here represent broken form and refer to messages from the black and white 

paintings. The artist’s starting point is her own whole face in the mirror. She goes on to paint partial 

faces, parts of the face, divided faces, and – as it appears –faces that have been taken apart and 

reconstructed. Breaking up visually a whole harmonious, well-known and accepted face represents, as 

noted, breaking conventions, a state of protest, tension and the wish to destroy. 

Balint (2006) uses the word 'fracture' when he describes a certain mental experience, "a feeling that 

something is wrong, that there is a fracture which must be mended" (p. 56). Fig. 76, which has been 

analysed in other contexts, shows Balint's idea. 

Fig. 76: 1 Painting – The Fracture - Finding from 'Data Group' (A1 (a)) 

232

This finding shows a partial face. In the empty space there is a text (discussed earlier). Here only the 

beginning of the sentence is important, "Today there will be a solar eclipse". So at issue is a fracture 

in the sense of a fault-line (in Hebrew ‘eclipse’ and ‘fault’ are the same word), something that has to be 

mended. Balint explains the word 'fracture' in terms borrowed from geology and crystallography, as “a 

sudden deviation from the general structure, which under ordinary circumstances might remain hidden. 

But, when loads and pressures occur they can undermine and cause the total collapse of the structure" 

(p.56). Identifying the fracture demands repair and Balint calls the repair "the area of creation". He 

considers creation and art as ways of mending. In the 'Book Object' the artist creates a relationship with 

the fracture described in the book and through this, and in other ways, she conveys her feelings of 

fracture. At the same time she is creating a work of art as a means of repairing the fracture. 

The artist stands in front of the mirror and sees her complete image, which, in general, is the shape of a 

human being, and, more precisely, her own image. This encounter with her reflected image refers to 

Lacan's 'mirror stage', the developmental stage at which the infant meets his 'other self' for the first time. 

This is a critical, fundamental and paradigmatic stage. It signifies the potential tension between the 

subject’s feeling of wholeness and omnipotence and their fear of splitting – 'I and my otherness'. It is 

now that this lifelong tension is imprinted, the tension between natural needs and reflexes and the 

norms of human culture (Vanier, 2003). 

Other forms describing the fracture of a construct and the destruction and reconstruction of shape figure 

in a large body of findings from 'Data Group' (C1). 

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Fig. 77: 15 Paintings - Dismantling and Re-assembling - Findings from 'Data 

Group' (C1) 

1 

Dismantl 

ing & 

Reassemblin 

g 

6 

4 

2 

234 

7 

5 

3

9 

8 

235 

10

14 

11 

12 

236 

13 

15

Here, disassembly takes another form. The artist halves the face, doubles the parts and moves them 

sideways. She creates a metaphor for the layering of the text, or alternatively, the depths of the soul. 

Layered texts and their depth also represent the soul, Strenger’s (1999) "deep self" or Winnicott’s 

(1971) "real self", hidden under layers of the false self or Jung's "split self". What Picasso started with 

his Cubist paintings and what the Dadaists did to texts, continues in the spirit of Derrida's (2002) de- 

constructivism. 

In her journals, the artist describes the de-constructivist work process: "I returned to abuse my old 

and sleeping works of art. Among my first creations, I found a very strong and forceful work, 

which I worked on, reshaping it again and again […] Not only did I abuse it, I snipped off, cut, 

multiplied, changed, erased, added to it – yes, I did all this to one work. At every stage I am 

satisfied with and do not wish to lose, I make a copy, save it, and then abuse it some more" (A2 

(a) – 27.12.04). "I tear up my works, their shape, attack them, turn them around, cut, change, 

attach, injure, attach, design and use them as raw material … I attack them, tear their shape and 

re-create them" (A2 (a) - 1.12.04). "I imagine myself divided into molecules and now I want all 

these molecules to unite into one whole" (A2 (a) – 30.11.04). 

The concepts 'tearing up the shape' (Vardi, 2007) or 'breaking a construct' (Kreitler, 1980) describe 

mental, historical and cultural situations from which we can deduce something about the state of the 

artist, her thoughts, feelings, values and messages (conscious or not). Beyond the facts of method, flow 

and technique, the issue is her demolishing and breaking up her portraits. Leonard (1997), in her 

Wounded Woman, describes her mental state as "like dying and being torn apart, a period of terror 

facing the fear of the unknown […] face to face with the irrational, torn inside like the mythological 

Dionysus, I decided to live according to corrupt and dark aspects in me" (p.15). The rents in her soul 

enabled her to "see her inner contradictions" (p.17). The actions of the artist can be seen as a 

metaphorically similar. 

This chapter that deals mainly with dismantling and assembling, expresses states of destruction and 

growth, taking apart and building, all of which have appeared earlier in the discussion of 'the pattern that 

repeats itself' – parts of the face that were turned into a decorative motif in the creation of a new 

painting. Paintings that were taken apart and re-built (Sarah's Tent, the exhibition, book object). This 

phenomenon repeats itself thus strengthening its significance in findings of group 1D and 2D – 

exhibitions. 

The two exhibitions were completely different and took place at different times. 

237

One exhibition of data group 1D was erected as part of the psychodynamic process during the period 

that the research took place. The findings from group 2D are from an exhibition that was set up on its 

own, for this artist only, in 1994. The exhibition was called "A Painted Installation". It, too, dealt with self 

portraits, and here, too, one can see the process of dismantling, assembling and building, changing, 

renewing and crystallising. The whole that is dismantled into its parts or made of parts, falls apart and is 

then rebuilt can be seen in both exhibitions. Details of the findings and their interpretation can be found 

in Appendix 5. 

The process reported here is one that awakens the artist's powers of creativity and enables her to 

produce many works of art. At first, by looking into a mirror, she produces many paintings. She splits her 

image into more and more images. This is a process of growth and development. Zemach (1992) 

describes it as a state in which we wish to be the “maximum of self”, to “exist a lot”. The multiplicity of 

images is a metaphor for the potentialities in everyone, to make much of oneself, to be more. Zemach 

(1992) describes this as a “rich life”', as self-realisation, which in itself is a work of art. 

We learn from Foucault (inspired by Nietzsche), from Strenger (1999) and from Zemach (1992), all of 

whom draw on Aristotle, who called it “arete”, that self-realisation means realising the form implanted in 

one. Man, like a tree, can remain a seed, or a seedling, that is, less than a tree, or reach up to his full 

existence, like a fully grown tree. The artist expresses this in Fig.73 

Fig. 89: 1 Painting – Face and Tree - Finding from 'Data Group' (A1 (a)) 

238

Zemach (1992) summarises it thus: "Whole, perfect people in the sense that they have significantly 

fulfilled themselves, create their self the way an artist creates, so that the significance is invested in 

every part of the work of art or the man. Only a man who has created himself in this manner can, at the 

end, say - "I have existed, and I have existed to a large degree". Jung (1993) would call this "everything 

the soul longs for, the expression that encompasses its wholeness" (p. 104). 

Thus, the artist using the colour red leads us to the 'root chakra' as a means of searching for her own 

roots, and later produces tens of portraits. She deconstructs the image she observes in the mirror and 

the portraits in an act of fracture and rebellion. She continues on her reparative way, creating a work of 

art and yet more portraits. These are a symbol and metaphor of creating her own whole self, a self 

which unifies the diverse parts. She reaches the core of her true self and creates a new self, and the 

self is more that the sum of its parts. 

239

Summary 

This chapter presents the sub-category, 'Dismantling and Re-Assembling', of the major category which 

deals with the Organisation and Structure of a painting, that is, the organisation of artistic means into a 

painting’s structure. The artistic means selected to represent Dismantling and Re-Assembling are the 

same as were defined in the Tree of Categories as Artistic Means as Images, that is, eyes and other 

facial parts, the head/face). This chapter demonstrates how structures are dismantled and reassembled. 

The structure of the face is dismantled and its parts become the basis for new creation. The findings 

displayed here present the issue from different angles by means of facial parts which go to build new 

forms and by means of the stages in the presentation of a particular exhibition. Dismantling and Re- 

Assembling represent the 'chain of observations', in which disintegrated materials reintegrate into a 

unique form, and are then again disintegrated and recast. This is a physical and tangible process which 

is exposed by intertextual analysis and interpretation, and presented the phenomena as well. 

240

SUMMARY TO THE INQUIRY 1 

The chapters of findings and interpretation are the direct answer to the research question: How can an 

artist decode her own self-portraits? (The second part of the question ―about psychological 

development ― will be dealt with in the discussion chapter). The first stage of this answer is found in the 

methodology, but only the implementation of the methodology is proof that the answer is effective. 

I designed a two-stage 'hermeneutic investigation', combining art and qualitative research methods. 

The first stage was a 'structural, Intratextual analysis', by which I mean analysing a text according to the 

basic components of the language of Art. (See my working hypothesis (Chapter 4 -, The Language of 

Art) that the inner contents of a painting, carrying the contents of the 'self', are hidden inside the 

painting’s visible shapes. I made this analysis using the method of 'content analysis', borrowed from 

the 'grounded theory' approach, which I called more precisely, a 'categorical content analysis of 

artistic means'. This approach let me go out to the research field and classify and structure anything 

that turned up. It let me distance myself from the visual texts, achieve an objective and scientific level of 

analysis and so break the circle of subjectivity characteristic of my research. 

Deconstructing and separating the texts into new structures created a framework that I used as building 

blocks for the second stage, 'an intertextual, interpretative synthesis' which composed an 

interpretative text. This interpretative reading was composed by exploiting the text’s three affinities 

(para-textual, intra-textual and extra-textual). The intertextual approach was found to be the best suited 

to a study whose main goals were creative interpretation and self-development. 

The research design gave an appropriate place to both the investigative disciplines, qualitative research 

and art, and enabled me to manoeuvre between my two roles as artist and researcher in this 

investigation of the 'self'. The interpretative intertextual journey obliged me to equip myself with a body 

of lingual, cultural, literary and historical knowledge, all of which filled my world with associations, 

connotations and other texts, which furnished a plentiful source of allusions. These enabled me to 

create connections between the texts, conduct intertextual conversations, expose meanings and create 

a verbal text from the visual one. 

My working hypothesis was that the text is layered with many strata, that it has its own subconscious 

and contains the deep contents of the soul. The text sends out hints and signals, and these I have to 

expose and then interpret. The process of interpretation and analysis peeled away the visual text, one 

1 Considering my various and changing roles in the research, and as I wrote in chapter 2, I return to using the 

first person singular, my voice which is the voice of the researcher 

241

layer at a time, so as to release the materials stored in it, and via these materials to construct a new 

text. 

The study’s findings are presented in accordance with a ‘tree of categories’ (Table 8 – Introduction to 

the inqiry) and I have elaborated on each group of findings. There were three objectives in extending 

the presentation of the interpretations: (a) to show the endless potential of the raw text (the painting); (b) 

to demonstrate the potential of intertextual interpretation, and its many interpretative dimensions; (c) to 

display the profound significance of the interpretative process itself, which is at the very heart of the 

intertextual approach. It is an approach that focuses neither on the text nor on the reader, but on the 

process of interpretation itself. 

I may add that in creating the interpretive text, I was exposed to hints and meanings I had not been 

aware of at the time of creating the paintings. The working hypothesis of intertextual researchers says 

that deep in the text will be found the subconscious of the text and of its author. But even an author of 

high textual awareness cannot be conscious of all the references in, and sources of, his work. Decoding 

the text enabled me to expose the non-conscious sources of all the participants (of text, author and 

interpreter). 

I did not skip any category in the tree of categories. Each unit was a source of rich interpretation, 

opening doors to cultural, literary, biblical, artistic and other contexts. I paid heed to each hint from the 

text and was surprised to discover its depth, the variety of connections with texts of different periods, 

occasions and artists, even with texts of my own I had produced at earlier times. For lack of space I 

could not present all the interpretations but whenever I had to do this I referred the reader to the 

appendices. The appendices further validate the power of the chosen methodology and the wealth of 

interpretations one can find with its help. 

This third stage in the chain of interpretation ('investigative activity' to produce a verbal interpretive text 

seems to me to be as creative as creating a work of art, equally as creative as the second stage of the 

study ('artistic activity'). Though at each stage the subject was the same, each stage created a wealth of 

interpretation and the means to reach and display this wealth it were varied and different. The materials 

that appeared in the analysis of the visual text were, in my opinion, the same that had shown up at the 

founding encounter with the mirror, but then they were raw and crude, and unresolved. I consider the 

interpretative process to be the main component of the research, which was the reason why I took time 

to present the interpretation in full. I found this rich interpretation fascinating both as a process and as a 

product (this raises a number of insights which will be set out in chapter 11 – Discussion). 

Re-designing the materials of visual texts in an interpretative process that creates a new verbal text can 

be seen as autobiography with a therapeutic aspect, an endless process of creation which constantly 

re-invents itself, both designing and designed. All these are elements of the study’s added value. 

242

I did not look for one absolute, unequivocal truth. I found the process of interpretation in real time to be 

the truth. I also found that at every interpretative stage, and in every interpretative text one can create 

new truths. The search for truth is the truth. The truth in the interpretation presented here is the truth in 

the text which I, as a creating, investigating, designing and interpreting subject, identified. The truth that 

I identified here is the truth of the research in real, true time, as well as the truth of man, perhaps any 

man. 

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Foreword 

PART III 

Chapter 11: 

DISCUSSION: EGO DESIGNING PORTRAIT AS MYTH 

11.1 Split - 1: Unification and Separation 

11.2 Split - 2: Subject and Object 

11.3 Split - 3: 'Ego' and 'Self' 

11.4 Destiny versus Ownership 




_______________ 

"Finding personal meaning in life's struggles is essential to acquiring wisdom. 

In order to succeed, one need not find the answer, only search for it". 

(Julia Cameron) 

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Foreword 

This research study has two axes: an axis of the 'self' and an axis of study. 

Diag. 10: The Two Axes of the Study 

Key 

M.E – 'Mirror encounter'; A.A – 'Artistic activity'; P – Paintings (visual text); 

I.A – 'Investigative activity'; A – Analysis; I – Interpretation; V.T – Verbal Text; 

The numbers on the vertical axis represent metaphorically the artist’s/researcher growth and self- 

development. 


'Chain 

of 

observ 

ations' 


6 

5 

4 

3 

2 

1 

0 

M.E 

A 

A.A 

B 

P 

245 

I.A 

C 

A 

I 

Development 

V.T 

Study

Study axis 

An encounter takes place on the study axis between the two forms of study available to the artist as a 

subject investigating herself, creating art and then investigating the created art. 

Each stage offers a different way of investigating, and each stage presents interpretations which are 

later explained. The axis of study proceeds continuously while the artist, as subject, acts inside it, 

manages it, use the materials she produces and redesigns it. 

Contrary to artistic schools that consider art to be an independent study area, the artist’s study agrees 

with the school that considers the combination of the two methods of study, creation and investigation, a 

unique way of creating knowledge. This combination satisfied the artist’s desire to study the self-portrait 

phenomenon, understand it, become part of it and give it meaning. This combination made it possible to 

create new knowledge and conduct a long-term personal change process. The research found that 

conducting a study meant learning how to manage the 'self', in other words, self-development. 

Self axis 

The axis of the 'self' represents a developmental, creative, continuous change process. The connection 

between the axis of study (the 'chain of observations') and the researcher as subject is one of mutual 

dependency. The axis of 'self' entails encounters, exposure, coping, decision-making, creativity and 

change. The study’s added value is the third, middle axis in the graph, the self-development axis. 

Diag. 11 displays the three links in this study's 'chain of observations' in the form of a pyramid. The 

narrow starting point is the encounter between artist and mirror. From there the 'Artistic Activity' derives 

and on that, in turn, the 'Investigative Activity' develops. The broadening of the pyramid from narrow 

apex to wide base signifies the potential for growth in the combination of creativity and investigation. 

246

Diag.11 The 'Chain of Observations' as Pyramid of Development 

Study 

Point of departure 

'Mirror 

encounte 

'Artistic activity' – 

Painting a self-portrait 

'Investigative Activity' 

Analysis and interpretation 

The 'mirror encounters' founds this research study. It indicates the artist's inner motivation, her longing 

and existential state: it directs her subsequent behaviour and constitutes the basis for unique mental 

development. The mirror serves as an optical tool that lets the painter be the sitter for the painting she 

wishes to produce. This seemingly ‘technical’ encounter alludes to the psychological phenomenon 

described by Lacan (in Vanier, 2003) as the 'mirror stage' of child development. 

The mirror creates a situation in which the subject faces a dual state. He sees the total shape of the 

body which gives him a feeling of unity and control, but at the same time meets his 'other self' (the one 

reflected in the mirror) or the 'other little one' as Lacan (in Vanier, 2003) calls it. "Here the 'self' of the 

subject finds its origin, this is a self made up from the sum total that the mirror can achieve" (Vanier, 

2003: 32). Lacan connects this stage to primary, healthy narcissism (Freud, 2007). The connection 

247 

Study

etween the reflection in the mirror and narcissism is seen throughout the study, and even shows up in 

the findings (the story of the lake, the colour blue, aquarelle technique, handwritten texts and the use of 

broken pieces of mirror as materials). 

The 'mirror stage' illustrates and describes the basic, dual situation that of a gap and paradox in human 

existence, one that projects onto mental life ― the gap between the narcissistic feeling of wholeness 

and perfection and the feeling of anxiety caused by separation. This encounter represents one of the 

greatest paradoxes of life (Shoshani, 2005) – instinct versus culture, finiteness versus immortality, inner 

reality versus external reality, separation versus merging, self versus other. It is an encounter of 

unavoidable opposites at the very foundation of life "a tension that cannot be reduced, between our 

animal origins and cultural laws" (Strenger, 2005: 153). This division or splitting is at the root of human 

existence and is the point of departure of the research study. The feelings of division are accompanied 

by distress and pain which lead in turn to coping and management. 

This early division is a basic state which recurs throughout the findings as dismantling and 

reassembling; destruction and growth (the story of the lake, 'Writing and Image', 'Readymade', 

Dadaism, red and green); exposure and hiding (writing and image - speech and silence); femininity 

and masculinity (the colour red); creativity and standstill (blue, the lake, aquarelle, the tent, the 

name of the book etc.); discipline and freedom (black and white, coloured, the bird's image, writing 

and image): sacred and profane (book object, writing and image); transparency and opaqueness 

(aquarelle, writing and image, the story of the lake); good and evil (black and white, yellow, blue): 

common sense and emotions (black and white, yellow, drawing, colour). 

The study presents three states of divisiveness that develop from the 'mirror encounter', (1) unification 

versus separation, (2) subject versus object and (3) 'ego' versus 'self'. 

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11.1 Split 1: Unification and Separation 

'Unification and Separation' are two powerful vectors which, according to Rank (1945), are two 

contradictory aspirations representing human existence. The vector of desire for autonomy and 

separateness opposes the vector of desire for unity and incorporation. Unity and incorporation seek love 

and belonging, and evoke a fear of death and loss of identity. The vector of autonomy searches for 

freedom and creativity and evokes fear of life, alienation and loneliness. These are existential states 

that toss the subject from one situation to another and feelings of fear are common to both. This study 

claims that the 'mirror encounter' revives and restages the mirror stage of child development and 

endows this restaging with a potential for reconstruction, for coping and change. 

'Unification and Separation' wrestle with each other at every stage of the study, on the surface and 

under it. One pursues the other, complements the other, and together they create the whole. The study 

also claims that every stage produces an option for the next stage, so promoting progress and 

development. 

Diagram 12 models the action of unification and separation. 

249

Separation 

Unification 

5 

Separation 

Unification 

4 

Diag.12: Split 1― Unification and Separation 

3 

2 

'Mirror 

encounter' 

'Artistic activity' 

1 

A 

B 

Investigative activity 

Analysis 


Visual 

text 

Verbal 

text 

250 

Unification 

Separation 

Separation 

Unification

The split that occurs at the 'mirror encounter' awakens a basic existential fear. Sartre (in Brinker, 1992) 

describes this as man being thrown into the world and then thrown to his death. The Talmud says: "One 

is created against one's will, one is born against one's will and one lives against one's will" (Ethics of the 

Fathers, D, 29). The 'mirror encounter' creates a meeting between artist and reality which he has to 

cope with. 

The 'mirror encounter' is initiated by the artist but is the outcome of hidden motives as well as the 

obvious motive (to paint a self-portrait). The hidden motives are complex. They hint at the artist’s wishes 

and needs to contend with the paradoxes and anxiety the encounter creates. 

What is reflected in the mirror shows the subject his whole image, full and total. But at the same time it 

is separated from him, so that the joy of wholeness is threatened by fear of separation. Lacan (in 

Vanier, 2003) says that, compared to the observing subject who is real, the image in the mirror is 

imaginary. The imaginary is the voice of the other, the discovered "unknown person" (Boles, 2000). He 

is elusive, visible in the mirror and disappearing when the encounter ends. The subject’s reflected whole 

image hints at the potential and possibility of unification and wholeness, whereas the created duplicate 

represents separateness. This encounter becomes unbearable, and creates an urge for the second 

vector, unification, an urge to overcome the separation, the split, and perhaps even bring back in full the 

primary, narcissistic feeling of wholeness. This reconstruction of the mirror stage of development 

reveals the subject’s wish to return to the point of crisis. Balint (2006) claims that one has to locate the 

place of the crisis, return to it and repair the fracture with creativity. Here we find a hint that the result of 

this encounter will be creative activity. 

The 'artistic activity' indicates initiative, the subject’s attempt to unify the separated parts. The artist uses 

potential materials of reality (Lorand, 1991) and with these creates a complete thing. The materials are: 

painting materials (colours, paper etc.), the model he chooses to paint, his mental content (thoughts, 

emotions, experiences) and the components of the language of art (line, tone, form, colour, technique 

etc.). The artist mixes colours, combines values, blends shapes and creates one whole mass. This is a 

tangible example of a separated and dismantled state in which the artist merges and unifies the different 

parts. The sense of anxiety demands a solution and spurs creativity. Winnicott (1971) describes it as a 

creative solution necessary for survival, which also serves as a basis for growth and creation. 

The study presents 'artistic activity' as an act whose aim is to achieve unity. The painting itself is seen 

as a complete and unified object. But this state of wholeness is only one form of it. The study states that 

the whole also contains separation, splitting. "Every work of art contains components that are 

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subordinate to a unifying and separating interaction, as well as to the work as a whole" (Shoham, 1987: 

44). 

This sense of division and separation manifests itself when the painter divides her image by producing 

more and more paintings. Every painting is another, additional aspect of the same whole object. 

Assuming that the symbolic painting carries the quiet voice of the other, each painting, separately, will 

be another voice that has sprung from the one voice. The separation echoes even within one painting. It 

appears to be a complete product ordered and organised but Ehrenzweig (1967) says it is created on 

two perceptions –'surface level ' and 'deep level'. What seems unified is actually divided. The study says 

each painting is a text, hence according to Kristeva (1989) even though the text seems to be one 

complete thing, it is divided and split. Kristeva explains that the text has two layers, a Phenotext and a 

Genotext. The one represents the symbolic language, the orderly and arranged surface. The other 

represents the semiotic dispositions, which are the contents and values that burst forth from the text, 

and have a different rhythm, thought process and structure. 

According to Kristeva (1989), these two kinds of text - both present in each painting - represent the 

tension created at Lacan's 'mirror stage' between nature and culture. One text represents law and 

culture and the other represents instincts and sensuality. Lacan, too, considers language to have two 

dimensions, and describes language as both reviving and killing. It revives the voice of the other, 

indicates his existence, and enables him to be present. On the other hand, it kills its real contents and 

hides them (Vanier, 2003). According to Lacan, language is just a symptom that creates an upper layer 

that symbolises and hints at the contents but does not reveal or tell them. 

This study shows that on the surface the 'mirror encounter' drives towards unity. This is what the subject 

tries to achieve via 'artistic activity'. But below the surface, and simultaneously, the activity that 

embodies unity creates separation. The products themselves point at this. As it appeared in the tension 

of contrasts in almost every category. 

'Artistic activity' is expected to lessen the fear of death which is a result of separation. The fear of 

alienation and loneliness, and the creativity that leads to action both symbolise the desire for unification. 

The study shows a parallel between painting and Winnicott’s (1971) 'transitional object', which is the 

product created in the 'transitional space' as a consoling and developing object. The artist seeks 

personal identity, which the 'mirror encounter' showed as both whole and scattered. Creating and 

building a painting symbolises a search to create identity. The image crystallises in front of the artist's 

eyes, made by the artist's own hands (Shoshani, 2002). But as it takes shape it disappears and is lost. 

What seemed a chance, when the image appeared in the mirror, has gone away and remains only as a 

252

hint or as Lacan (in Vanier, 2003) calls it, a symptom. The painting is symbolic, and, as noted, does not 

narrate its contents. It shows them in the painting and signals a promise. 

The painting discloses and hides. The 'artistic activity' and the created product provide an answer to the 

fear of separation and point toward unification, but at the same time also realise the fear of loss of 

identity. The inner voice is elusive, like the image in the mirror, and Winnicott (1971) says that the soul 

plays hide-and-seek with us. Fear of loss of identity shows itself also in the fact that the artist paints her 

self-portrait again and again, searching anew in every painting. Her search for identity is also found in 

her work journals. The artist tries to create an identity through self-definition. Daily she sets out on a 

journey to identity. 

The artist becomes a researcher and dismantles the completed visual text into its components. The text 

undergoes a process of analysis that deconstructs it into colours, shapes, lines, styles, materials and 

technique. All the components of the visual language from which the text is created are deconstructed 

and separated. As can be expected, this process represents the fear of life, because the text is broken 

apart to exist in an intermediary state. Deconstruction kills it (see, for instance, the four stages of the 

Exhibition-Installation (A1(c)), Chapter 9). 

The interpretative process contemplates the deconstructed visual text and uses the materials to 

create a new text. The text is edited and ordered both ideationally and linguistically. This is the last 

stage of the process, creating a complete and unified text from the deconstructed text. But in the spirit of 

Intertextuality, the study stresses that this interpretation of a complete and crystallised unit is only one of 

many possible ways to interpret a text or a reality (Shlasky and Alpert, 2007) and thus it signals the 

possibility of an endless process, the potential of further change and development. Shoham (1987) 

claims that the vectors' ambitions can never be realised. They are merely projected onto a work of art 

and thus "grant the process of realisation a halo of fulfilment and a dimension of significance" (p. 42). 

The study thus claims that creativity originating in the need to survive is a potential for the 

creation of uniqueness, a uniqueness first crystallised in drawing sketches that then serve as a pattern 

for a unique design. Shoham (1987) describes this as a true process of "revolt, creation and revelation" 

(p.12). Man encounters a crisis, and through revolt starts the processes of creation and revelation "that 

pull him out of the crisis of the absurd" (ibid.). Each vector takes the subject one stage further. Each 

new anxiety pushes towards a creative solution. 

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11.2 Split 2: Subject and Object 

Diag. 13: Split 2: Subject and Object 

Authentic 

Sisyphean 

revolt 

R 

E 

V 

O 

L 

T 

Authentic 

tantalizing 

revolt 

Pain 

Pleasure 

Mirror 

encounter 

Subject- 

object 

Artistic activity 

Unification (Subject + object) 

The Paintings 

Visual Text 

Separation - 

object 


Analysis – separation 

Interpretation- unification 

Interpretative 

text 

Subjective - 

objective 

254 

Split 

Expressionism 

Modernism 

S 

T 

Y 

L 

E 

Intertextualism 

Postmodernism 

Unification 

Subject in 

the centre 

Object in 

Centre

The 'subject' is the person facing the mirror and the 'object' is the person’s reflected image. The object 

depends on the presence of the mirror (Merleau-Ponty in kenaan, 2004), hence it is elusive. It is born in 

the mirror's presence, and disappears when it vanishes. The way to trap it, according to Lacan, 2003, is 

via speech and language. This study chose to trap it by painting, which is also a language. Split 1 

identified a fear which provoked the subject to act. Split 2 points to a feeling of pain and the study says 

that 'artistic activity' is the creative response to that pain. 

Preoccupation with self-portrait is typical of adult narcissism (Peiper, 1983; Whiteford, 1987; West, 

2004) and Miller (1992) explains that adult narcissism is an expression of deprivation, of the needs of 

the early, healthy narcissistic stage not being met. Narcissistic behaviour originates in pain, a feeling of 

absence, and non-acceptance of the self. Symington (1999) stresses that narcissism is necessary for 

survival and that omnipotence grows when reality fails. This study claims that the painter arrives at the 

'mirror encounter' from pain, and in an attempt to recreate those moments that should have satisfied 

early narcissism. 

With a feeling of omnipotence, the artist starts an active dialogue, in which she searches for her whole 

self (like the one hinted at in the mirror). The 'artistic activity' serves both as a tool for the search and 

also provides the artist with a feeling of self-glorification. In Split 1 the study showed the multiplication of 

self-portraits as an expression of separation and splitting. Here it shows them as a form of self- 

glorification and aggrandisement. 

During the 'artistic activity', the subject places herself at the centre (narcissism, omnipotence) and 

creates self-portraits in the Expressionist style, a style in which the artist puts himself at the centre, is 

occupied with the study of his inner world and uses the materials and language of art as a means of 

self-expression. 

The study claims that the characteristics of modernism are also the means of action typical of the artist. 

Modernism developed from pain and disappointment and led to the wish to break and destroy the old 

and, in its place, creates a new world. To revolt against norms and canonical ideas, desecrate 'holy 

cows' and reduce the pathos. Change the past, destroy it and, in exchange, offer something better, 

truer. Modernism expresses a struggle against all that preceded it. The artist too is acting out of pain 

and expressing a longing for change. She uses the old (the Metaphoric "earlier" 'mirror stage') as a 

basis for change and growth. The artist revolts, destroys, deconstructs, all in a wish to create something 

new, different, better. As It appears in the multiplicity of findings presented in this study ('Book Object', 

'Readymade', 'Writing and Image', variations of colour, the colour red, charcoal technique, the story of 

255

the lake, black and white and the trickling of colour, dismantling and assembling). The artist places 

herself at the centre of her existence and acts as a rebel who wants to change things. 

The subject's revolt, originating in distress and a wish for change, is an existential form which aspires to 

personal freedom. Facing the dilemmas of human existence, the subject musters creative power to 

create a meaningful life for herself. According to Sartre (in Brinker, 1992), human existence is factual 

and coincidental, and the ''mirror encounter'' tells the human story to which the artist also brings her 

personal story. "In his unjustified existence, in the heart of coincidence and arbitrariness that brought 

him to the world, man is able to give birth and create meaningful creations" (Brinker, 1992: 55). The 

research shows that in accordance with Shoham's concepts, (1987, 1998) the subject's choice of 

'artistic activity' symbolises and represents an 'authentic revolt' of Sisyphean character. Revolt is the 

choice of the subject who challenges the factual existence (Shoham, 1987). It is the one that "provides 

life with a human dimension and gives colour to that existence" (Brinker, 1992: 68). This is the way the 

subject creates his individuality, providing meaning to life that is both fact and fate. 

The authentic Sisyphean rebel, says Shoham, is a tormented rebel who does not give up, even when 

the goal seems unattainable. He aspires to be creatively involved with the object, and that is the reason 

he keeps pushing the rock uphill, even if in the end it rolls down again. Creativity, doing something, the 

struggle, the experience of not giving up, the ability to be in the thing itself while enlisting creative 

powers, all these describe an existential revolt. "When Sisyphus bends over his rock he pours creative 

efforts into it. His creative involvement with the stone frees him from alienation" (Shoham, 1987: 36). An 

authentic dialogue between Sisyphus and the rock goes on. Here, in this study, the dialogue is between 

subject and object. The findings show an artist repeating her actions daily over a long period – always a 

portrait, always a self-portrait in front of a mirror, and every time a different painting. The subject’s ability 

to see the same thing differently every time was described by Picasso when he was asked "Why do you 

paint the same fence every day?" He answered: "This is not the same fence that I painted yesterday, 

and it is not the fence that will exist tomorrow" (quoted in Shoham, 1987: 43). There is the well-known 

quote of Heraclites who said "No man ever dives into the same river twice, for it is not the same river 

and he is not the same man". This is the Sisyphean approach to art that states "everything flows, 

everything changes" (ibid.). 

Findings from the work journals and the analysis of the paintings describe frustration, exhaustion, 

disappointment, criticism, pain and hesitation, but still the artist continues to work. The painter, like the 

authentic Sisyphean rebel "fights with a tendency to fall apart and drown even when attacked by 

difficulties and extreme pain" (Shoham, 1998: 279). The findings describe revolt, shattering of norms, an 

attempt to create something new on top of the old, desecration of the sacred and glorification of the 

256

profane ('Book Object', Readymade', 'Image and Writing'). The Sisyphean rebel is aware of the fact that 

he might be chasing the wind that soon his achievements could be forgotten, but he will continue and try 

to create order from chaos (p.281). One can extend the idea presented in Split 1 and see Sisyphus as 

someone who collects up the broken and scattered pieces of a creation and tries to put them together 

again and again. As an authentic Sisyphean rebel, the painter strives to be involved creatively with her 

object. 'Artistic activity' allows her to become attached to the work of art, body and soul. 

The use of materials, the expressivity, the narcissistic encounter, the use of symbols and metaphors 

and the place of the subject at the centre, all indicate a process overflowing with emotion. The painting 

itself is a vessel (Schaverien, 1995) into which the artist pours her emotions. Kohut (2005) says that 

emotional flooding and the ability to hold these emotions at the centre makes it possible for them also to 

dissipate, and only then can they move away from the mental centre-stage. Only after the release of the 

emotions from their centrality is it possible to step back and look at them. Thus 'artistic activity' gives 

way to investigation. The revolt was necessary, says the study, for it paves the way to the next stage, 

which is another kind of revolt. 

The study shows an additional dimension of 'artistic activity' and of the work of art. That is the dualism in 

which it both revives and kills. It enabled the spirit of revolt to exist: it gave meaning and moments of 

grace, but "perfection in a work of art is death" (Shoham, 1987: 38). In Split 1, the study described this 

as a loss of identity, as being swallowed up. Lacan (in Vanier, 2003) describes it as a language that 

revives and kills. The 'artistic activity' gives the rebel the feeling of liveliness, but the feeling that the 

objective has been reached is also the death of creation (Shoham, 1987). The point, at which the 

subject separates from the object and the object stands separately, on its own, means the death of the 

work of art hence, the creativity process. 

The artist had the choice to continue and create more and more self-portraits, and thus continue the 

creative process. Like Sisyphus, to die with each work of art, and to rise to a new life with a new work of 

art. But here the study suggests continuing the authentic revolt, going on with the creative process, but 

realising it with a different activity. This is because "an authentic creator never reaches his objective: he 

is always in a process" (Shoham, 1987: 38). 

The artist departs from her work of art and now she can observe it like any other observer (Ehrenzweig, 

1967; Shoham, 1987; Lorand, 1991; Kohut, 2005). As Lacan explains, the other voice of the subject is 

deep inside the symbolic object. Like any other observer, the subject hands over his place and the 

object goes to centre-stage. This activity alludes to the phenomenon that took place at the start of the 

post-modernist movement "shifting the subject from the centre" (Shlasky and Alpert, 2007). This is a 

257

change that Barthes (2005, 2007) describes as the era of the "death of the author". The disengagement 

of the painter from the painting changes his role, points at a new cultural approach that has arrived, and 

signals another developmental stage in the dialectics of subject object. 

The Post-modernist cultural approach places the object at the centre with the subject observing it. To 

some extent, this is similar to the starting point when the subject also contemplated the object. But now 

the object is at a more advanced stage, it is no longer imaginary but symbolic and, as such, or as vessel 

or text, the subject has realised the potential hinted at in the 'mirror encounter'. Post-modernism also 

hints at a revolt but, unlike the modernist revolt, this rebellion does not pursue a better world. The post- 

modernist artist takes apart, destroys, connects, reattaches and rebuilds. He considers the world to be a 

reservoir of materials he can use for unending, reshaping and renewing creativity. 

The study made a comparison between Lacan's speech and the painting here. Following this, and 

assuming that both are languages, the investigation decided that a painting is a visual, interpretative 

text. Derrida (2002) says that writing is a substitute for speech. Barthes (2007) adds that writing and 

painting are equal, both are physical and material, both expose and hide and both need to be 

investigated. Hence the rise of the object and its crowning as a 'visual text' are steps that are derived 

from the similarities we have shown, and these enable the transitions from one stage to another to take 

place. 

The object that now stands at the centre seems to be a complete 'visual text', ready for deconstruction 

(as described in 'Split 1'). The text, peeping through hints and reminders in the semiotic layer, or 

Kristeva's (1989) Genotext, wants to be explained. The interpreting subject wants to explain: "The text 

desires me and I desire it" (Barthes, 2007: 44). In the spirit of the Post-modernist revolt, the materials 

can be taken apart, reordered and rejoined (Azulay, 2006). Nothing is endless or permanent or 

unequivocal. The process of study is what matters. "The magic of the web" (Elkad-Lehman, 2006) seeks 

the "abyss behind the words"(ibid.). 

Shoham (1998) calls this kind of revolt “an authentic, Tantalized Revolt”. The rebel seeks revelation, in 

particular the revelation of the self. He is stuck in a search for the reasons and significance of life, driven 

forward by curiosity and an unending hunger for knowledge. He strives for self-integration and personal 

freedom. "Armed with this inner understanding of his potential, the tantalized rebel turns to search, 

discover and decode the meaning of his existence in an absurd world, and the meaning of his 

relationships with this world" (p. 285). 

The research returns to the 'mirror encounter' and reminds that the transition from artistic to 

investigative activity is alluded to in the 'mirror stage' because painting is a language, it is symbolic. 

258

Lacan (in Vanier, 2003) defines it as a symptom which, like Egyptian hieroglyphics must be decoded 

(Freud 1988; Golan, 2002). For this purpose, Lacan invites the analyst. Here the investigation takes on 

the role of analyst and the task of interpretation like the tantalized rebel whose objective is to 

investigate, expose the hidden and reach self-revelation. 

Theoretically, the study says, this transition, in which the subject is required to dismantle the whole 

object she has created, will be painful. Painful because she has to take apart something she created 

with her own hands, and painful because the process of searching for an identity has not ended, despite 

the feeling of completeness that encompassed her during the 'artistic activity'. Having vacated the 

centre in favour of the object, the subject is now emotionally free to learn and understand what has 

taken place. There is still a chance of meeting the other voice, and perhaps from a more settled, less 

stressful place. The study identifies a transition from an emotional state to an intellectual state, a 

maturing (see the work journals, drawing technique in charcoal and pencil, the colour blue, the colour 

yellow and the involvement in the interpretative process). 

The subject has now reached the second of her two states of relationship to the object, the state of 

analysis and deconstruction, where she is separated from the object and observes it. This is a stage of 

interpretation, when she comes closer to the materials, connects them, and as they come together into 

an interpretative, verbal text, she joins them to tell her own story. The ''chain of observations'' that led to 

the 'chain of interpretation' has created a meeting place which the Meta-introduction called a 'cross- 

road', a 'cross-road' which demands a change of role and language. This is where the question changes 

as well ― from Who am I? To what do we have here? And how can one know and understand what we 

have here? 

The different questions that arise at each stage of the 'chain of observations' are characterised by a 

change of style. During the 'artistic activity', when the subject is in the centre and the question is 'Who 

am I? The artist uses an Expressionistic painting style. During the research activity, when the text is 

being investigated, the researcher uses an Intertextual style. The two styles signal the transition from 

the 'principle of mimesis' to the 'principle of semiotics' (Peirce, 1965). In none of the stages of 

observation and interpretation does the artist/researcher seek one, unequivocal truth. The 

artist/researcher is not engaged in representing or imitating reality. She is engaged in an interpretative 

and creative process that complements reality (Lorand, 1991), that expands, creates it. Every 

interpretation is the truth of the interpretative process of that moment, because the "post-modernist truth 

is a perspective, multi-faced, fragmented, kaleidoscopic and often changing" (Aron, 1966: 25). 

The subject’s desire is to bridge the gap between herself and the object, a gap that erupted in the 'mirror 

encounter', and appeared again at the end of the 'artistic activity'. Creative activity creates a bridge 

259

etween subject and object (Shoham, 1987). Phillips (1999) explaining Winnicott claims that 

interpretation is more than a persuasive translation of the sub-conscious; it is a means to personal 

growth. This study presents a wide and rich range of interpretation and considers the interpretative 

process a continuation of the creative process that started at the stage of 'artistic activity'. 

The mirror image is elusive, temporary and deceptive and does not answer the subject's question, Who 

am I? Unlike the fairy tale (‘Mirror, mirror on the wall’) the mirror is silent. The subject has to create the 

answer to her question herself. 'Artistic activity' has uncovered the subject but at the same time 

produces a product whose results are concealing. Now investigation aims to expose what is hidden in 

the object. This exposure and concealment appear in the findings (in the categories of 'Image and 

Writing', aquarelle, transparent and opaque) and underline the dilemma of human existence between 

two tendencies― "the strong need to communicate and the even stronger need not to be exposed" 

(Phillips, 1999: 150). Winnicott states (ibid.) that the artist represents this phenomenon more than 

anyone else. In creating he both exposes and hides. 

11.3 Split 3 – Ego and Self 

These two parts of the personality represent different ways of thinking and behaving. Ego represents 

consciousness and is considered to have the qualities of logical, classifying, organising and structured 

activity. The self represents the sub-conscious and is considered to show sensual, experiential, 

imaginative, associative and emotional behaviour (Noy, 1999). The study finds that the 'mirror 

encounter' summons up both types of thinking. This section will follow the development of ego and 

define its role and status in this study. 

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Diag. 14: Split 3: ' Ego' and 'Self' 

C 

R 

E 

A 

T 

I 

V 

I 

T 

Y 

Reflected self - 

implied 

Dominant 

self 

Mirror 

encounter 

'Ego' 

– 'Self' 

''Artistic 

activity 

The painting 

Explanatory 

visual text 

Observing 

ego- 

manifest 


Assisting 

self 

Verbal 

explanatory 

text 

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Assisting 

ego 

Dominant 

ego 

Passive 

ego 

A 

C 

T 

I 

V 

E 

G 

O 

Ego designing 

portrait

The subject looking in the mirror is ego, which represents conscious, organised, knowledgeable 

thinking. Over against 'ego' is the 'self', whose thinking is sensual, intuitive, and has a different rhythm 

and order. According to this study, in the initial 'mirror encounter' ego observes passively and the 

encounter offers an opening for ego to use its cognitive understanding, to take decisions and act. ego 

observing the image in the mirror illustrates the expression that 'the ego looks into the depth of the soul'. 

Ego looks at the 'true self', says Winnicott (1971), which resides "in the soul, bowels or head or 

somewhere within the borders of an individual's personality" (Phillips, 1999: 79). The 'mirror encounter' 

invites the passive, observing ego to become active and look deeply inwards. 

The passive ego chooses 'artistic activity', which according to Symington (1999) is an intervention which 

defines the 'active ego'. This study describes the choice of 'artistic activity' as the start of ego's journey, 

aiming not just to search for the deeper self but to be united with it, in order to borrow its strength for the 

task of being active. The study claims that it is this ongoing, creative journey, this collaboration between 

ego and self, which produces the portrait of the self. 

During 'artistic activity', 'ego' and 'self' unite in a combined thinking process. Noy (1999) explains that 

creative thinking works by a combination of two essentially different mental processes. One is the 

primary mental process: this represents the characteristics of the self and activates a mental process is 

based on associations, intuition, imagination, the senses, combinations and special contexts. It is the 

voice of the sub-conscious and the reservoir that feeds creation. The secondary mental process 

represents the characteristics of 'ego'. It functions in a structured manner, organised, methodical, 

conscious and logical. During the creative process the primary process is dominant, providing materials 

and unique mental processes, while the secondary process organizes and edits them into the finished 

work of art. In this collaboration 'ego' cedes its place to 'self' and is ready to serve the 'self'. 

Thus, what was described in Section 10.2 as the subject placing himself at the centre is here described 

as ego assisting a dominant self. 'Ego’s aim is to go deeply inwards, meet the self and allow it to 

express itself (Jung, 1989; Pinkola Este's, 1997). 'Ego' vacates its place but retains the role of efficient, 

silent organiser. The findings in this study show how the different contexts and ideas present in the text 

are brought to light and the subconscious of the text exposed by forms but still hide its constants. 

The study states that artistic means, such as style or visual values, are a bridge which ego offers to self 

for the hidden contents to climb on. But though ego has vacated its dominant place it still stands guard, 

arranging and ordering the hidden contents and so creating the “surface level” (Ehrenzweig, 1967),the 

Genotext (Kristeva, 1989), which becomes the last barrier on which the contents of the subconscious 

repeatedly knock. 

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'Ego' and 'self' join and collaborate in a thought process, with the aim of forming a complete portrait 

(meaning here both a portrait as a whole person and portrait as a finished painting). The resulting self- 

portrait is deceptive. It looks like a complete, whole product but as was mentioned before it is layered. 

This study finds the 'artistic activity' to be merely an intermediate stage. The opportunity is given to 'self' 

to be active and dominant, but the intervention of ego leaves the materials provided by the self still 

closed and guarded. When 'ego' searches for the real 'self', it asks – Does it exist? Has it been brought 

to light? 

But the 'real self' is situated under the layers of the false self, layers that were created for protection and 

as a survival mechanism (Winnicott, 1971; Phillips, 1999). The painting is a symbolic layered text 

(Kristeva, 1989) and the real self remains deep under these layers. This situation gives ego a choice, 

and perhaps also the need to continue with its search. 

At this stage it is already clear that the real self is the creativity in this search. Winnicott who 

coined the term 'the real self' also says that it is hard to describe, and is a creative aspect that 

expresses what is original and unique in man, his authenticity (Phillips, 1999). To set out on a search 

and do what is necessary to push through this search, this is the discovery of the real self. The study 

concludes that taking the initiative which leads to creative activity is the truth: exposing and shaping a 

self-portrait’s hidden content creates this truth. Truth is created, and does not exist until it is 

created. 

The real self, though dominant, is still embedded in the depth of the text. Its discovery depends on the 

transition of ego to the stage of investigation, a stage it is expected to dominate. After taking an 

‘auxiliary’ role, when thinking progressed along the emotional channel, now most of the thinking takes 

place in the channel of the intellect. From being passive, face-to-face with the disassociated materials 

the mirror presented, now ego becomes active and courageous, deconstructing, classifying, testing, 

examining, and reconstructing. All this takes place with the help of the self, which generates hints, 

reminders and associations, and consolidates ideas in a unique thought process which this study terms 

creative. 

This section has described, via a practical and lively dialogue with 'self', the journey of 'ego' in creating 

the Portrait of it's own 'self'. The study finds that interpreted paintings are created through the active, 

dialectical joint journey of 'ego' and 'self'. The portrait is a whole containing contradictions which are 

actually a dynamic dialogue between 'self' and 'ego'. This journey is undertaken by choice, in response 

to different urges. It is a journey of revival for 'ego', which starts passive, becomes active and 

completes the journey crowned as 'designing ego'. 

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11.4 Destiny versus Ownership 

The three splits reported above describe, each in its own way, the ''mirror encounter'' as a starting point 

which presents a problem. The problem identified urges the subject to act. Each split presents the 

stages of that action from a different point of view, but they all have in common the path from a state of 

no choice to taking an initiative. Strenger (1999, 2005) uses the terminology, destiny versus 

ownership, based on Sartre's approach that says that "every man is a combination of freedom and 

factualism (Brinker, 1992: 60). All the situations that the mirror presents as a starting point describe 

'factualism', but at the same time also offer an opening to 'freedom'. 

The study chooses 'artistic activity' as the first form of behaviour in the 'chain of observations', and so 

signals a way of taking ownership that leads to freedom. The three states of splitting, and the last one in 

particular, have defined the subject as a 'designing ego'. By this the study means an ego that takes on 

the ownership of the materials of the individual's reality and creates a portrait (in the sense of a whole 

person). Strenger (2005), in his The Designed Self, represents the process of creating an individual 

identity as a design project. It is the duty of modern man, he says, to live his life as a work of art. "The 

task of each of us is to create his life as a coherent creation, made by his own two hands" (Strenger, 

2005: 131). We must take ownership of the crucial materials of our life and use them to design it. Sartre 

says that although man is thrown towards birth and from there to his death he has the right and choice 

to design his freedom: "At any moment of his existence, man is not only a given fact, but also the 

internalising of the fact, giving the fact significance, deviating from the fact toward re-designing it" 

(Brinker, 1992: 62). 

The 'mirror encounter' presents the factual aspects of existence but also provides a way to deviate from 

them. The study shows a way to cope with this choice – by taking ownership. A creative revolt, in which 

the ego designs, discovers significance, grants meaning and creates a portrait. A plan for enacting 

Sartre's statement that "we are sentenced to be free" (quoted in Brinker, 1992: 67). 

Strenger (1999) bases his concepts on Post-modern culture and, as an example, presents the Bricolage 

artist who "wanders between junk yards, basements and lofts to find the materials for his creations. His 

creations are the result of encounters with randomly found objects" (p. 95). This is the way, he thinks, 

for a subject to create his identity. He must go down to the depths of his soul and glean from there his 

personal materials, understand them and acknowledge them. He must recognise the life materials fate 

has given him as facts, and from these materials build his life (examples of this appear in the study 

findings: 'Readymade', 'Book Object', 'Image and Writing', Sarah's Tent, the (D1 (a)) Exhibition, and 

others). "Human liberty is not creating ourselves from nothing: it is the way we interpret our personal 

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history in a continuous process of throwing ourselves into the future" (Strenger, 2005: 153). A Jewish 

liturgical poem from the Day of Atonement says that we are "as clay in the potter's hands", meaning that 

our material is owned by, and subjected to the decisions of the Creator. 

In the first stage of the 'chain of observations' the artist produces a painting. At this stage the ego is 

active, independent, dominant and on guard. The study says that though this painting activity is 

considered to be a kind of freedom and taking of ownership, it is a temporary, false and deceptive state. 

It indeed aspires to unity, but on the way it loses identity. It does enable the other voice (of the 'self') to 

show through but it also hides it. The finished product is enigmatic and the voice of the 'self' remains 

concealed. 

This 'taking ownership' is a journey in which 'ego' steers along a track that entails transitions, contrasts, 

frustrations, pain, transformation and, finally, growth (as all the findings show). The study concludes that 

all the self-portraits are steps on the way to designing a collective portrait: they are an investigation, a 

sketch, a plan of work. 

The 'artistic activity' is a process of collecting the materials of the 'self' (assisted by the 'self'), not yet of 

exposing them (see Chapter 3, The Language of Art). The numerous self-portraits paintings are not 

objective but tools and providers of materials for designing a more comprehensive portrait. One might 

say that the creative urge, originating in pain and distress, provides the 'ego', via the dominant 'self', with 

the materials with which it can complete its work as portrait designer. From this point of view, the 

'designing ego' must, at every stage, make a decision and demonstrate ownership anew. 

The study does not ignore the fact that 'artistic activity' can exist independently, in its own right. It 

accepts the claim that art is a semi-autonomous language, developing out of itself and for itself (Lorand, 

1991). But in this study the portraits serve a process of taking ownership and of authentic revolt. 

Designing a portrait is an authentic journey in which the subject creates his life as a work of art and 

through works of art. 


Pain and anxiety are elements of each of the three splits described above (and of the findings in all 

categories). 

The study claims that 'ego's' journey to design a portrait is analogous to and runs parallel to Jung's 

mental journey (1993) which he describes as "the hero's journey". The desire of the human spirit to 

search for, and find meaning (Frankel, 1981) always proceeds through, and is incited by pain (Jung 

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1993; Eigen, 1998). "If we wish to live meaningful lives, then the soul must create its own ability to 

withstand emotional storms" (Strenger, 2005: 140). On the soul's journey in search of meaning "we shall 

meet the pain of emptiness, of lack, failure and loss" (p.141) 'artistic activity', by its very nature, captures 

these emotions in the forms it creates, and interpretation exposes them. Pain is in each of the stages: in 

the 'mirror encounter' facing up to the split, in the 'artistic activity' as emotional flooding, and in the 

'investigative activity'-- confronting the spiritual materials exposed. 

According to Jung (1993), the hero on his journey must meet and contend with the monster and return 

victor. It is a journey on which man gets to know his hidden, concealed, negative, threatening and 

frightening aspects. (In the findings they are hinted at via The Mark of Cain, the colour black and the 

dualism of the colours red, yellow, blue and green, as well as 'Image and Writing', the story of the Lake). 

Even the struggle of the artist with himself and his own painting abilities is a metaphor for this journey. 

Jung (1993) claims that only the subject's ability to contain his polarities and contrasts can turn him into 

a victorious hero, a complete man. This demands creativity, and he considers this journey an endless 

creative process of self-forming and consolidation. 


This study describes a subject designing her own portrait. It finds that this means designing a process of 

self-development. The study claims that the face-to-face encounter which started with the 'mirror 

encounter' is a metaphor that recurs when the artist meets the painted portraits to interpret them. The 

Hebrew word for face, 'panim', is a plural word which also means 'aspects'. It thus represents both the 

face’s layering and the many aspects of its 'visual text'. The face is the motif, sign, article and image 

through which the study learns and teaches about spiritual development. The face is the tool for making 

a portrait. 

The mirror sets the subject face-to-face. The expression itself hints at an expected struggle. As Strenger 

(2005) says, a project to design the self involves "standing face-to-face opposite existential, spiritual 

catastrophe" (p.141). In reaction to the 'mirror encounter', the subject produces portraits. In art, when 

talking about a self-portrait, it is not essential for the picture to focus on the face only. Here, in this 

study, all the paintings are frontal, of the face or parts of it. The study is not interested in narrative 

official images (expressions, etc.) but only in the artistic components of the painting. Therefore one can 

say that the importance of the portraits lies not in the fact of a painted portrait but in the face-to-face 

encounter itself. Painting a self-portrait becomes a metaphor for the real meaning of the study, which is 

designing a portrait in the sense of achieving personal growth and development. The study 

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differentiates between the individual painted portraits and the collective portrait in the sense of a man 

and his soul. 

The face is the outer appearance that guards inner contents. So, one can see that a face and a painting 

have something in common. Both appear to be open and exposed but both conceal. The face, like the 

object, the text and the painting presents only what is on the surface. Francis Bacon expressed this so 

well in his portrait paintings when he attempted to tear away the facial skin and touch the flesh 

(Kundera, 1996). The face, like the painting, is what Lacan (in Golan, 2002) calls "the curtain that hides 

the beauty". Both are a kind of mask (as is also seen in the findings, in portraits presented as masks). In 

Hebrew, the word masecha (mask) contains the word masach (curtain). And in Latin the word for mask 

was persona. Jung chose the word 'persona' to represent personality, meaning that the outer, visible 

personality is a kind of mask covering the real 'self'. 

This ‘two-faced’ image, the hiding and the exposing, all these appear in the findings in different ways. 

The artist-investigator uses investigative activities to 'open the curtain'. She deconstructs the complete 

painting, seeking its inner contents. Similarly, during the 'artistic activity', the artist disassembles the 

face, exposes layers and creates layers, as if to say that the original portrait is only an upper layer (see 

the findings in the categories of 'Disassembling and Re-assembling', transparent and opaque, repeated 

pattern and 'Image and Writing' ). 

One can compare the 'designing ego' to an archaeologist on an ancient hill who searches for materials 

in order to tell the story of the place, society or era. Another analogy is that the painted faces form a 

map that will lead ''ego along the soul's trails. A third analogy is that the signs that created the paintings 

of the face by artistic means are codes through which one can learn what is inside the painting and what 

is inside the face. Investigation breaks up the symbolic structure to let the semiotic structure show 

through the cracks. 

The involvement with the face and the face-to-face encounter present two challenges. One is the 

multiplicity of faces and the other that the face consists of many layers. Being layered demands opening 

the 'curtain' to reveal what is behind it. The multiplicity demands unification and consolidation. The 

findings represent both challenges: the one face is replicated and multiplied and painted in layers. 

Facial parts repeat themselves and finally come together in one designed whole, Sarah's Tent, a home 

for the soul as Matri (2005) puts it. Or many facial images combine into one whole tight structure (the 

installation (A1 (b)). Jung (1993) describes the development of the soul as a process that shapes the 

unique, which means connecting all the split parts of the 'self' into one, coherent whole. 

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Levinas (in Schonfeld, 2007) discusses the "phenomenology of the face" and claims that the face is the 

big unknown. A subject cannot see his own face; hence he has to meet the face of another subject and 

through that learn about his own and his own existence. Levinas considers the subject as a point of 

departure and centre for understanding the self and the world. The study reported here opens with an 

encounter with the other of the subject himself. This starts via a mirror, continues through paintings of 

the face and ends in the analysis and interpretation of those paintings. 

The study finds a connection between the face-to-face encounter of the individual and the ideas of 

Levinas. Levinas describes the face of the subject looking at the infinity outside him, and the study 

refers to the subject's face as he contemplates the infinity inside him. Levinas acknowledges the 

centrality of the subject and says that an encounter between individual subjects is essential to knowing 

the other. The study agrees with this but suggests a way to know the subject, starting with the exposure 

of his own face first. 

In the Talmud it is written "The King of Kings, the Holy One Blessed be He, put his stamp on the first 

man and there is no one similar to the other. Therefore, everyone must say, the world was created for 

me" (Sanhedrin, chapter D, lesson E). Shoham, (1987) quotes Kierkegaard: "The individual is the 

beginning and end of all. The way the individual sees things is decisive, because, inter alia, creation ― 

and chiefly revelation – are phenomena of individuals" (p. 70). The study claims that while the individual 

is the beginning of all, and listens to an inner voice, the products of this listening can and must belong to 

all. As Dag Hammarskjöld said, "The more you listen truly to the voice inside you; you will hear more of 

the voices outside. Only he who listens can talk" (quoted in Cohen, 2003: 384). Only at the end of his 

journey does the hero return to society to present it with what he has acquired. 

Even if the 'mirror encounter' is, in part, narcissism, this study says that it is an important learning 

process which also contributes to the other. As Cohen (2003) puts it: "This encounter with your self, 

listening to yourself, is not an egocentric submersion. On the contrary, it is a condition that enables one 

to open up to the world and be able to make a unique contribution to it" (p. 524). This can be 

summarised in a famous sentence from the Bible: "You shall love your neighbour as yourself" (Leviticus, 

19: 18) but the original Hebrew does not say 'your neighbour' but 'your friend'. 

The study concludes that if an historical, cultural and local story of a lake is able to be a partner in 

designing a private story and portrait, then the designing of a self-portrait can also be a model for the 

design of mankind's portrait. The journey of the 'designing ego' is seen here as a hero’s journey and as 

the journey of an individual with an important story to tell. 

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Art researchers (Whiteford, 1987; West, 2004) consider self-portraits to be a kind of autobiography. This 

study does not agree. While not rejecting autobiographical aspects, it sees the activity that took place in 

this study as the designing and composing of a myth of the self. 

Jung (1993) says that only myth can recount what we are in the soul of our dream. A myth is individual 

and able to express life more faithfully than science. In his opinion, when man wants to understand his 

life, he creates and uses myth. Jung’s "hero's journey" alludes to myth. The journey closely involves the 

myth, and the mythical figure, of Narcissus. There is a mythical quality in the original name of the book, 

Song of a Dying Lake, in which a state of dying is connected to one of regeneration and growth. The 

artist affixes her portraits on top of, within and alongside the photographs of the lake, thus becoming 

submerged in the story of the lake. The story of the portrait mixes with the story of the lake through 

states of destruction, extinction, loss, growth and renewal. The process that the book itself underwent 

tells the same story. It knew good times, was thrown onto a scrap heap, returned to the bookshelf and 

made into a work of art. 

The artist's choice of a book as working material, as a basis for painting and dialogue, point to the fact 

that she is telling a story. The biblical and mythological figures in the findings and interpretations 

(Miriam, Sarah, Cain, Athena, Artemis, Aphrodite, the three Graces and others) reinforce the mythical 

aspect. Mythical figures are appealed to in describing the artist’s authentic revolt (Sisyphus and 

Tantalus). 

Myth is created with symbol and metaphor. Myth is created outside the territory of daily life, and is tied 

to rites and rituals (Armstrong, 2005). Myth is based on the representation of opposites--light and 

darkness, good and evil, nature and culture, and others). Myth reflects the whole and the whole reflects 

the parts (Levi-Strauss, 1965). All these are characteristics of the myth found in this study. Ego designs 

a portrait as a myth, portrays the subject in "an experiential ritual, relating symbolically to ritual activity, 

having a role in the ceremony, and joining the ceremony of the general myth of his life" (Baumann, 

2002: 153). All this in order to "guard the equilibrium between the contrasts in his personality, to 

undergo change, to develop and give his life a higher meaning" (ibid.). 

The study states that, contrary to mythological Narcissus whose story is one of killing, here narcissism 

becomes a vehicle for revival. And contrary to the mother queen who asks "Mirror, mirror on the wall…" 

here the mirror is silent and it is the ego which takes on responsibility and ownership, and goes on a 

complicated journey to obtain an answer. 

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The study represents here a mythogenic journey. It can be compared to the Cabbalistic Tikun 

(‘reparation’): "a journey that a never end […] is ever finished […] is always dialectic, not linear […] a 

permanent dialectic process that creates a synthesis" (Shoham, 1987: 66). The study compares tikun to 

the term 'design'’. Tikun entails improvement, change and reform and both terms are concerned with 

building. This individual journey seems to be metaphorical. Metaphors are tools that ego creates and 

with which it expresses itself. Ego is not the same 'I' before and after the metaphors are created. It is an 

unending process that not only enriches the self but also creates it (Oliney, 1972). 

An ego that undertakes a hero's journey is an ego which designs a portrait as myth. Narcissus met his 

image in a water-mirror and the artist’s reflected image turned into the images of Sisyphus and 

Tantalus, and like the ancient Greek poet she created her own myth. She reconstructed the rules of the 

ancient journey to Ithaca (Constantine Kaupst) which says, "If you go to Ithaca, beg your journey to be 

very long […] do not expect Ithaca to grant you happiness. Ithaca gave you a beautiful journey […] but 

for it you would not have gone out". The road is the aim and, as an observing, active and designing ego, 

the artist-subject acts as the poem says: "enter with awe […] into harbours you have never seen before" 

and designs a portrait. 

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Chapter 12: 

THESIS SUMMARY 

Conclusions and contributions 1 

As a painter working for many years on self-portraits, I chose to investigate this artistic genre on the 

conviction that it could be a means and vehicle for self-investigation. I wished to expand the 

understanding and use of the genre for this purpose, a use which, I believe, only begins with the act of 

painting. Painting a self-portrait, I found, was in itself an investigative act which, if followed up by 

creative investigation and interpretation of the finished portrait, generated a most productive form of 

self-study. I defined this sequence of creative and investigative activities as a ''chain of observations''. I 

designed a three-stage structure (artist-'mirror encounter', painting the portrait, investigating the finished 

portrait) in which each stage interprets the former. This I defined as a 'chain of interpretation', with the 

artist as central actor, observer, creator and investigator. I consider the research study reported here to 

be a study of how the different forms of investigation in art can be combined into an effective tool for 

self-study. 

I used my expertise as a painter and my personal interest in this genre to produce a large number of 

self-portraits for the study. My working hypothesis was that the act of painting traps unknown contents 

deriving from the self and that the finished product contains them in coded form and thus calls for their 

decoding. The resulting research question was: How can an individual painting a self-portrait create 

both a body of unique knowledge, which serves as means to self-development and also furnish a source 

of meaning valid for others? By what methodology can the artist decode his own self-portraits?’ Thus, 

the core of my study is research into the artistic research process, with me taking the roles of creator- 

researcher and researcher-creator. 

I considered qualitative research, a research approach that acknowledges and accepts the subjectivity 

of the researcher, as a proper environment for developing a method to decode the riddle of the self- 

portrait as a vehicle for self-investigation. This was the approach as well that best suited my character 

and beliefs as researcher and artist. Since the language of my creations is symbolic and creates signs 

which need to be understood and interpreted, I adopted a hermeneutic research approach, as the 

approach which looks for something not visible at first sight. The methods of case study, grounded 

1 Considering my various and changing roles in the research, and as I wrote in chapter 3, I return to using the 

first person singular, my voice which is the voice of the researcher. 

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theory, self-study, action research, and art-based research also contributed insights and techniques. 

The chief tools for interpreting the finished portraits were content analysis and intertextuality. 

I describe the research process as an encounter between two axes: the axis of investigation and the 

axis of the self. These two axes act jointly to generate a third axis, that of self-development, which is the 

key added value generated by the study. 

In my research, the material painting is only a tool, a metaphor and a pool of materials for further 

investigation and further portraits. What had been defined at the beginning of the research as 

investigation of the self I renamed as the investigation developed the journey of a designing ego. The 

process of my journey as a subject on the axis of research changed the self that started the 

investigation into an ego that designed its comprehensive portrait. On this journey, ego uncovered, 

acknowledged and exposed the materials of its personal life, and used these materials to create not 

only a collective self-portrait from the numerous individual self-portraits but to create a personal life of 

more self-understanding. One can say that I learnt to manage my self. This was a creative, investigative 

change process in which each portrait was created, studied and finally accepted as part of the collective 

portrait of the whole person. Thus, a distinction is drawn between creating a self-portrait and writing 

autobiography. All the many portraits generated a private story full of meaning for myself and others. I 

was designing my life as a work of art. I was composing not autobiography but a personal myth. 

The conclusions of the research are as follows: 

1. Assuming painting a self-portrait to be an unresolved way of investigating the self, this research 

exposes the process whereby the self can be searched and researched, coded knowledge 

deciphered, and new information derived to produce knowledge that is significant in its own right for 

self-understanding and self-development. 

2. It has been assumed that an investigation of the self via painting a self-portrait is a process in which 

the subconscious is dominant. This study shows how the conscious ego actively searches for, 

reveals, manages and copes with unconscious materials with the aim of designing a collective 

comprehensive self-portrait. The study therefore terms this aspect of the individual the 'designing 

ego'. 

3. The genre of self-portraiture can be more than it seems to be. The combination of painting and 

focussed research reveals how this genre can be a tool for the study of the self, for self-development, 

self-empowerment and growth. 

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4. My research broadens the concept of self-study research in the qualitative paradigm. This study 

points to the fact that, under certain conditions, both the investigator and the investigated product can 

produce new knowledge. The combination of art, research, self and the unique research method I 

developed enabled me as a subject to operate in this unique investigational situation without harming 

the integrity of the research. 

5. This study expands the insights and practical implementation of several genres of qualitative 

research: art-based research, participant research, self study, and the general hermeneutic approach, 

as well as the combination of art and research. Contrary to schools that consider art itself a closed 

kind of investigation, I display the affinity between the two disciplines of art and research and 

demonstrate that they need each other, contribute to each other and gain from each other. 

6. The three-stage model of 'mirror-encounter', 'artistic activity' and investigation of finished product 

proved a highly effective tool for self-understanding and development. My research method as a 

whole I term ‘art-based self-study’ and consider it a useful addition to the repertoire of qualitative 

research methods. It produced results on two levels. On one level it served to find a solution to the 

riddle of the self-portraits (and so successfully answered the research question). On the second level, 

it was found to be a significant research approach in its own right. 

7. The axis of the self and the axis of the research that were designed in the research created an 

interpretative, developing, creative, ongoing dialogue. Interdisciplinary and intertextual interpretation 

created and nurtured a very productive dialogue with the painted ‘visual texts’. 

8. Though the research did not set out to produce a model suitable for therapy, the results show that 

that the process does contain therapeutic components. One could say that under certain conditions 

and in some contexts, this form of qualitative research can have therapeutic qualities. 

9. Though the research deals with an investigation of one particular self it does not tell a merely 

individual story. I chose to use myself as a model for a newly developed research approach and 

research design but the approach and design reported here could produce insights for anyone. 

Issues For Further Research 

1. Can the research model presented here be used for therapeutic purposes? 

2. Is the model suitable for painters only for others too? 

3. Is the combination of art and qualitative research – or any kind of research - the only way to analyse 

self-portraits? 

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In my opinion, this study should be considered only as a starting model which can be used to conduct 

further studies. As for the third question, during the research I myself chanced upon many other 

possibilities. Some of these methods are mentioned in the methodology chapter together with an 

explanation for why they were not adopted for use. I chose the method that seemed the most suitable 

for the character of the works of art and of myself as researcher. The alternative methods for analysing 

artistic findings indicate the great amount of knowledge to be derived from artistic products. 

This study contributes to knowledge in a number of areas: 

In qualitative research methods, it contributes to art-based research, self-study, action research and 

participant research. I present a unique research method, expand the significance of reflectivity and 

subjectivity in qualitative research, and enlarge the dimensions and possible applications of 

Intertextuality. 

In the field of art I expose and expand the possibilities of the genre of the self-portrait as an 

investigative tool and as a tool for both general and art therapy. 

In the personal and psychological field, I offer processes of self-investigation, self-development and 

management of the self. I coin the fundamental term 'designing ego' and expand this coinage into 'ego 

designing self-portrait as a myth', meaning a subject who designs his life to be both meaningful and as a 

work of art. 

To end this summary, I would like to refer to a great man and use the words of René Descartes (2001) 

who said that he hoped the next generation would judge him kindly; not only for what he had explained 

but for the things he had omitted, so as to leave the pleasure of discovery to others. 

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Chapter 13: 

IMPLEMENTATION AND VALIDATION OF THE STUDY 

The 'Designing Ego': 

A Workshop for the Creation the Portrait of the Self 

In this chapter 

13.1 The Research –Assumptions, Designing the Investigation 

and Conclusions 

13.2 Implementation and Validation of the Research 

13.2.1 The 'Mirror – Encounter' 

13.2.2 The ' Artistic – Activity' 

13.2.3 The ' Investigative – Activity' 


________________ 

"I created you in the centre of the world, 

so that you can better observe what the world holds… 

so that with your own ability, freely, 

as a good painter or nimble sculptor, 

you will complete your own image". 

(Pico Della Mirandella) 

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13.1 The Research – Assumptions, Designing the Investigation 

and Conclusions 

This research is based on the intersection of two axes, the axis of investigation and the axis of 

the 'self' (see chapter 11 – Discussion) - A subject investigating himself with a variety of tools 

and different methods, all the while holding an intensive, continuous, changing and developing 

dialogue. In this process he exposes himself, is exposed to himself, discovers, analyses and 

produces knowledge that is nourished from the inner reservoirs of the 'self', and is organised by 

outer tools. 

Working assumptions on which the research is based 

(See Part I - Introductions - chapters: 1, 2, 3, and 4) 

1. Art is a unique form of research. 

2. Art is a unique form of investigation that is always characterised by an 

investigation of the 'self'. 

3. The unique artistic genre that is called 'painting a self portrait' is an activity 

typical of investigation of the 'self'. 

4. Art has therapeutic, i.e. healing, value. 

5. The language of art is a symbolic language, the use of which enables one to 

reach hidden depths of the mind. 

6. Investigation of the 'self' has been acknowledged and marked as one of the 

main and important elements in the development of man, and in getting to 

know the world. 

7. The language of art rejuvenates and raises deep mental contents, and at the 

same time hides them between its visible signs. This is a symbolic language 

with inner, semiotic, layers. 

8. Painting a self - portrait is a type of human behaviour and management. 

9. The connection between art and quantitative investigative methods and 

approaches makes it possible to produce a new, different and unique 

knowledge. 

10. Qualitative research is subjective and allows for the personal voice of the 

researcher and his involvement in the investigated field. 

11. The intertextual interpretative approach makes it possible to expose deep and 

hidden layers of the text. This is an investigative, interpretative, 

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interdisciplinary intersubjective, post-structural and post-modernist approach. 

Being so, it creates an opening for creative, profound and broad interpretation. 

12. This interpretative approach, being part of the qualitative investigation, turns 

the researcher into an active, involved and creative interpreter. 

13. Investigation of the 'self' is a tool for personal and human development. It 

enables the creation of a meaningful life, thus contributing towards 'well – 

being'. 

14. The products of this research, as a kind of Art- based research offer a unique 

way for the investigation of the 'self' and self development. 

These assumptions are the basis for the development of the 

research, typified by two stages of development. 

1) Designing the investigated phenomenon and defining it – (see chapter 2 – Meta- 

Introduction). As is indicated by the research strategy 'Case – study' I have defined the 

following limits of the research: 

1. Painting a self - portrait in front of a mirror. 

2. A permanent place – the studio of the artist. 

3. Painting consistently and over a period of time. 

I have designed the researched phenomenon as a three – staged structure which I defined as 

a 'chain of observations' which simultaneously constructs a 'chain of interpretations'. The 3 

stages of the 'chain' are: 'Mirror- encounter'; 'Artistic- activity' ; 'Investigative – activity' (ibid.). 

In this structure I am both researcher and creator. The research question developed from this 

structure (see chapter 3 – Designing the Research). The research question led me to focus on 

methodology, and from this the second stage of development arose. 

2) Developing a methodological structure and a method of analysis and interpretation – 

The research is carried out in the 'hermeneutic investigation' (Allen and Jensen, 1990), at the 

bases of which is the interpretation of texts. The text in this investigation is the representation 

of the 'self' (as a result of the 'artistic activity' stage – painting a self - portrait) which becomes 

the investigated object. An object of this kind is usually described as 'Visual Image'. In this 

research I have defined it as 'Visual Text'. This was done to underline the status of the painting 

in the research – as a text that is undergoing interpretative reading. The research method I 

have developed is carried out in two stages (see chapter 5 – Methodology). This method of 

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analysis enables me, in the first stage, to keep my distance from the text, shatter the circle of 

subjectivity, analyse it with a structured method in a systematic, logical and transparent way. 

After obtaining the findings I continue to the stage of interpretation which is creative, open, 

ambiguous and endless. The method of analysis that I suggest combines a 'categorical content 

analysis' (borrowed from the 'Grounded - theory') and the method of analysis and interpretation 

of the intertextual approach (see chapter 1 – The Artist/Researcher Declaration; chapter 5 – 

Methodology). 

A personal statement from a researcher who worked in the complex 

process of :self -study as self- investigation 

I have chosen to investigate a phenomenon that is well known in the field of art, and defined it 

as human behaviour. I have chosen myself as one who represents the phenomenon because I, 

as a painter, deal mainly with painting self - portraits. For this reason I considered the 

phenomenon a case suitable for research, and myself as part of this research. 

In this research I have claimed and justified the idea that being occupied with painting my self 

portrait points at the strong need that the subject has to investigate himself. Self- investigation 

means to interpret, understand, expose, discover and conduct an intersubjective dialogue. The 

fact that a painter repeats this activity again and again reinforces this idea. In addition I claim 

that this is a unique kind of Self- investigation that provides 'findings' – these are the paintings. 

As objects, the paintings give evidence and proof of the need and interest in investigating the 

'self', just as they are proof of the fact that the process did take place. At the same time I claim 

that this is a process of investigating the 'self' that is not complete; hence it is described in my 

research as an act that begs to be continued. In my research I also claim that the finished 

painting is only the beginning of the investigation which announces the potential hidden in it. I 

have therefore suggested an additional stage which is meant to expand, continue and develop 

the research that has already appeared and hinted at in the 'artistic activity'. 

I have found that the combination of the type of investigation via the painting and the tools that 

qualitative research supplies can facilitate the continuation of the research, and provide an 

answer to that basic need of investigating the 'self'. Each of them is a kind of research, each of 

them – in its own way – deals with the subject (as has been described above), so that the 

combination between them can be an exemplary model of processes of self- investigation. The 

combination has grown out of the structure which I defined as the 'chain of observations' (see 

above). 

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As a creator and researcher I went through all the stages of the research. As a researcher, I 

imposed on myself the rule to work at painting self - portraits and produce paintings for the 

research (according to the research's limits described above). As a researcher I developed a 

research method to investigate the products which had been defined as texts, and were 

actually a reflection of the 'self'. The 'chain of observations' (which is an investigation of an 

investigation) created the following activity of a 'chain of interpretations' (results of investigative 

processes). It is therefore clear that the main interest of the research is in the various kinds of 

interpretations, both as processes and as products. 

From this activity, I have learned much about the possibilities latent in the painting of a self - 

portrait. I learned about the hidden possibilities of the combination of research through art and 

qualitative research methods. I made an important discovery in that I had gone through a 

complex and profound process of self development. The whole process I have gone through 

and experienced in person has provided me with insights, knowledge and experience. I created 

a model which I can apply when I work with others. 

Conclusions of the Research Process – (from the interpretations and 

discussion) 

1. Artistic activity that takes place in the form of painting a self - portrait in front of 

a mirror can be used as a tool and implement in the process of investigating 

the 'self', which means self development. 

2. The encounter of the subject with himself as an object in the mirror is, by itself, 

a basic stage. This encounter can serve as a technical aid and at the same 

time also be a significant, motivating, element. 

3. The painting of a self - portrait is a metaphor of the process of investigating the 

self. As a metaphor it tells about the process more than what is visible, beyond 

what one sees and in addition to what is observed. 

4. Painting a self - portrait as a metaphor while it is the thing itself, is also a 

potential and challenge to profound and extended investigation of the 'self'. 

5. The combination between research that is carried out in the language of art 

and the investigative qualitative approach with the intertextual interpretative 

method can turn this phenomenon into an unlimited store for the production of 

contents from the 'self'. At the same time it can provide the subject with an 

enriching experiential road to self investigation. 

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6. The interpretative process (based on the intertextual approach) enables the 

subject to be on a creative, experiential track on which he exposes contents 

from the text, contents that allow him to know about himself. These contents 

show the subject some aspects of his inner being, while at the same time 

telling the universal story of the human mind. 

7. A subject creates self - portraits in order to investigate the 'self', and later on 

he interprets them with other tools. This situation enables him to move 

between several states: to be close to himself and his work, to distance 

himself from his 'self' and learn about himself through his work. To really and 

actually experience a process of an intersubjective discourse. 

8. The process of painting is like that of creating a road map with which the 

subject can walk on the twisting paths of the mind as well as discover the road 

to it. 

9. The process of analysing the paintings is like the creation of milestones that 

delineate the road on the journey into the inner mind. 

10. The interpretative process is the walking itself. Walking that can be defined 

metaphorically as going through the thorny fields of the mind and changing 

them into fertile soil. 

11. The mind is not one, definite, place a person has to reach. It is the space that 

the subject desires to identify, discover, be init, enlarge it and merge with it. 

12. The act of painting is an active process in which the conscious ego organises 

the materials of the sub conscious. This activity creates an opportunity for a 

unique encounter between the 'ego' and the 'self'. In this encounter the 'self' is 

alternately visible and hidden. The 'self' is dominant and the 'ego' assists it. 

13. The act of interpretation is again a unique encounter between 'ego' and 'self' in 

which the former is dominant, removing the cover of the painting from the 'self'. 

The 'ego' is dominant and the 'self' assists it. 

14. The three stages of the research describe a gradual process in which 'ego' 

observes 'self', aided by the mirror, and from there onwards it is drafted into 

action with which it can connect to 'self', get to know it. From this acquaintance 

the 'ego' can conduct itself as a 'designing ego'. 

I will sum up by saying that the research created the' designing ego'. I wish to emphasise that 

the 'designing ego' is not the painter who paints the 'self - portrait'. There he is only a hint of 

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the potential of the 'ego'. In my research I claim that the 'designing - ego' grew out of the 

complex investigative process in which a dialogue takes place between the 'ego' and the 'self 

(see chapter 11 – Discussion) .This specific expression developed from the research and 

points at the apex of the process and its summing up which states that painting a self- portrait 

means designing a visual image with which one may continue the process of investigating the 

'self', in which the subject designs his 'self'. 

I suggest applying the knowledge and experience I have acquired in this research in the 

framework of a work group called 'Workshop for the Creation of a Portrait of the Self 1 '. 

13.2 Implementation and Validation of the Research. 

The research was conducted according to the structure presented in the Meta-Introduction 

(chap. 2) – 'the chain of observations'. On this basis the research was done, from this the 

research question arose and from it the products, findings and interpretation grew. The 

discussion (chapter 11), too, conducts a dialogue with the 'chain of observations'. In this 

chapter I show how one can implement and validate the investigation's results. The plan for 

implementation and validation presented here is based on the same structure and three stages 

(mirror- encounter; artistic- activity; investigative- activity). 

Here I have shown investigative conduct which is, in fact, a practical and real example of the 

unique process of investigation of the 'self'. This is a process of self investigation, the 

importance of which is in understanding the 'self' and its development. I consider this research 

to be a model for the management of the resources of the 'self', a model that can serve the 

subject as a tool for self development, for the investigation of the 'self' (Jung 1989, 1993) and 

creating and designing the 'self' (Strenger, 2005) as Sartre claims like a work of art (in 

Brinker,1992). 

13.2.1 The 'Mirror Encounter' 

When one paints a self – portrait the 'mirror- encounter' is an essential physical necessity as 

it is also a basic requirement in this research. The encounter with the mirror is not just a need 

and technical means, it is also an encounter loaded with significance, having psychological 

A proposal for this work has been presented to Ben Gurion University, Be'er Sheva 

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1

amifications (see chapter 11 – Discussion). This encounter, while enabling to carry out the 

task, is also a source of motivation for the painter activates and influences him. This is a critical 

encounter and an opening point for many possibilities (ibid.). 

This encounter reverberates to the Lacanian 'mirror stage' (in Vanier, 2003), and from this a 

number of its profound meanings are derived. It is the start of a journey which originates in a 

challenging encounter and presents a paradox, hence a dilemma and pain. The encounter 

serves as an opening signal for the journey I have defined (inspired by Shoham, 1998) as an 

existential process – an 'authentic revolt', Sysiphic and Tantalic (see chapter 11 - Discussion). 

At this encounter, an inter-subjective dialogue takes place in which the subject is the suffering 

hero going out on a journey to get to know himself, crystallise his uniqueness (Jung, 1993) and 

design his portrait from the factual and crucial materials of his life (Sartre in Brinker, 1992; 

Strenger, 2005). A 'mirror encounter' is therefore the starting point that is also a technical aid, 

both a metaphor loaded with meanings and a factor encouraging and motivating mental 

activity, one of its forms of expression being the 'artistic activity'. 

The encounter with the mirror invites the 'artistic activity' and the use of the language of art. 

According to Lacan the 'mirror stage' is the place and stage in which the language develops (in 

Vanier, 2003). Here the role of the language is to assist the subject in coping with the profound 

repercussions of this encounter (see chapter 11 – Discussion). The language of art in the 

'mirror encounter' echoes the language that had developed in the Lacanian 'mirror stage'. Here, 

too, its task is to help the subject cope with the encounter. The languages in these encounters 

is symbolic and represents the sub conscious which Lacan (ibid.) calls the 'other self', the inner 

and hidden voice of the 'self'. Derrida (2002) claims that language is speech; it replaces 

speech, and even states that writing and painting are the same, equal. 

According to Lacan the image that appears in the mirror is imaginary, elusive and impossible to 

comprehend. This voice rises again via language (speech, writing, and painting) and becomes 

symbolic. In the present workshop, the participant has an opportunity to re-create that early and 

primary 'mirror stage', and makes use of the potentialities of this early encounter with the help 

of his mature abilities. 

To sum up, this stage is essential, exemplary, founding and assisting. It is significant both as 

an encounter and for its psychological ramifications and these create a unique basis for the 

encounter between the subject and himself. It is also the stage that creates the environment 

that facilitates, which is described by Winnicott (1971) as a 'transitional space', a place that 

facilitates the development of creativity and the growth of personality. The next stage of 'artistic 

activity' develops on the former stage and on this background. 

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13.2.2 The 'Artistic – Activity' 

The 'artistic activity' that takes place in the 'mirror encounter' is the reaction of the subject to the 

sight he observes in the mirror. This revelation is slippery, temporary, dependant and changing 

(Merleau–Ponty in Kenaan, 2004). 'The language of art' is tangible and physical and its task is 

to catch the imaginary and slippery image. Thus the painting becomes the physical object that 

has captured the evasive message. In the words of Lacan (in Vanier, 2003), the imaginary 

form and the symbolic shape have caught the 'other' and 'inner' voice that arises from the sub 

conscious. 

The act of painting is an intersubjective dialogue between the subject and his other voice. This 

activity uses the language of art which is a language of symbols and metaphors (see chapter 4 

– The Language of Art). The occupation with the 'other language' in which the mechanisms of 

creative thinking works (Noy, 1999) (see chapter 3 – Designing the Research) distracts the 

participant's mind from the occupation with himself and his 'self'. Creating the symbol distances 

him from himself (Storr, 1999). In this way the visual signs serve as a kind of "ladder" on which 

the hidden, mental, materials climb. The language of the painting becomes a kind of "net" that 

catches these contents. The language of the painting becomes a mediator between the subject 

and his hidden voice, and at the same time deflects the thoughts of the conscious 'ego'. 

At this stage of my activity my aim is to focus the attention of the participant on the work on, 

and production of, a painting. This is the stage in which the participants are instructed in 

painting. They learn to know the language of painting, how to look at a model and how one can 

translate the sight to an image and a visual representation. I intend to distract the participant 

from the loaded encounter and from the investigation of the 'self'. The participant does not 

focus on his image, but on the question of how to paint it, or how to use this language and 

the materials. The 'artistic activity', becoming acquainted with the language of art and artistic 

means, the challenge to carry out the task and the occupation with problems of painting are all, 

in fact, a trick meant to distract. This is the stage in which the participant focuses on the task, 

learns how to carry it out, learns to observe the model through the eyes of a painter and learns 

to react and express himself in a personal manner towards the thing that he sees. 

It is important to mention that though the declared intention of the workshop – at this point – is 

to paint a self - portrait, it is not intended in the sense of copying reality, or like a picture or 

photograph that is copying reality. The emphasis is on the fact that the reality reflected in the 

mirror as a model for a painting is the source of inspiration and starting point for 'artistic 

activity'. Reality is in the eye of the beholder, and the result in subjective interpretation that 

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complements the reality (see chapter 1 – The Artist/Researcher Declaration; chapter 4 – The 

Language of Art). This is so because the work in the workshop will be in the spirit and style of 

expressionism, because the aim of the workshop is to enable the participant to express and 

voice himself, be occupied with investigating his inner reality and use painting materials as 

tools for personal expression (ibid.). 

During this activity the question that rises from the 'mirror encounter' is in the background, its 

voice is vague. At this stage of the 'artistic activity' the questions with which the participant is 

preoccupied are how to cope with the language of art and execute the defined task. At this 

stage, the investigation of the 'self' depends on the ability of the observer to use the tools of the 

language of art, thus the main assignment is to know to use the language and adjust it to the 

subject's needs at that point in time. He also needs to sharpen his sense of sight as a painter, 

and expose what is in the thick of things, as described by Merleau–Ponty (in Kenaan, 2004). 

During the workshop the participants will be exposed to the artistic means of the language of 

art such as – 

1. Visual values (colour, line, blob, structure, organisation, composition, three- 

dimensionality, technique, materials and others). 

2. Styles and genres. 

3. Images 

(See chapter 4 – The Language of The Art) 

The participant will focus on issues concerning painting, styles, and the language of painting, 

visual values, technique and materials. He will focus on questions that deal with the ways of 

looking at a model and translating physical reality onto the canvas. The image in the mirror is 

both the object and model to be painted, the canvas is the area with which he has to cope, and 

the tools are the language of art that serves the participant as a tool for personal phrasing and 

expression. 

I consider this activity as a kind of trick meant to distract from the 'self', while at the same time it 

is also the act of "creating knowledge". The knowledge that is created is visual knowledge the 

'aesthetic knowledge' (Eisner, 1985). This is the knowledge which is in the painting that is a 

physical object that, according to Ehrenzweig (1967) consists of two perception's layers - 

surface perception ; deep perception. 

The stage of 'artistic activity' continues in weekly sessions. The encounter with the mirror and 

the 'artistic activity' that follows it resemble a therapeutic session to a large extent (Geldman, 

2006). The subject encounters himself, uses the language of art to tell his own story to himself. 

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In this way he gives meaning to the encounter that repeats itself again and again, each time 

producing new interpretations. 

On completion of this stage, a discussion should take place to find out what has been learned, 

what we have, what does it mean, where does it go, what else can be done with it. The 

participants in the workshop will learn to understand that portrait paintings are a kind of vessel 

(Schaverien, 1995) that contains the contents of the 'self' in code. 

Lacan explains that if the subject has to recognise and know his inner voice, he needs an 

interpreter. The interpreter that Lacan suggests is the psychoanalyst (in Vanier, 2003). In my 

research, I invite the participant to be his own interpreter. In other words, continue the process 

of interpretation that has started via the language of the art. The interpretation is necessary 

because the painting is a symbol and metaphor, and the contents of the 'self' are hidden in it 

(Launger, 1976; Storr, 1991; Noy, 1999). The participant's interpretation of himself will be a 

continuation of the process of investigation that started with painting a self - portrait. 

Lacan continues by saying that a language must be decoded. He thus elaborates on Freud's 

idea who considered this process to be similar to the decoding of the Egyptian Hieroglyphs (in 

Golan, 2002). Derrida (2002) defines languages, writing and painting as suspect, because they 

cover and hide, so they must be investigated. 

This is the place where I suggest to the participant, and enable him, to move on to the third 

stage of the 'chain of observations' which is the 'investigative activity'. 

13.2.3 The 'Investigative Activity' 

In my research I claim that the occupation with painting a self - portrait is a metaphor that 

describes self - investigation. At one and the same time it is a type of call and invitation for self 

investigation, it also tells about the need and desire to investigate the 'self', and as a metaphor 

it remains full of themes that have to be interpreted and decoded. In my research I claimed that 

through this activity, a call rises to investigate the 'self' that does take place, but there is also 

the demand to complete the investigation, utilise it to the fullest. From this the research 

question arose – how can one continue the investigation of the 'self', with which tools, how to 

decode this activity and how will this advance and strengthen the process of investigating the 

'self'. 

The research question led me to present and recommend the combination of art and qualitative 

research as each of these two represents a different way and form of investigation. This 

combination, I think, can serve as a unique model for the investigation of the 'self', going as far 

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as self - therapy. I claim that the need for investigation of the 'self' arises from the phenomenon 

(painting a self - portrait). I identified a gap and claimed that this investigation is not fully 

exhausted, it contains a potential for a more profound investigation. The qualitative tools assist 

the researcher to investigate any phenomenon, or anything that hides something else in it 

(Shkedi, 2003). That is the reason that the combination of qualitative research and art is also in 

this case the answer to the above described need. This combination enables the subject to be 

present in the evolving process of self development. 

In order to continue the investigation of the 'self' and strengthen it, and in order to solve the 

"riddle of the 'self'" that appears from the paintings created in this manner and for this purpose, 

I turned to qualitative research. I have defined the research as a 'chain of observations' which 

simultaneously creates a 'chain of interpretations'. I based myself on a variety of approaches 

that tie interpretation with the process of self – discovery and investigation of the 'self'. These 

concepts are also connected to a therapeutic process. I have chosen to use the term 'healing' 

in which I mean mental well being, maintenance of the 'self' or managing the economy of the 

'self' ( Noy, 1999). 

Jung (1989, 1993) says that the process of searching and discovery is the actual development. 

For this to happen, a creative dialogue must be produced with the hidden parts of the 'self', and 

later be interpreted. The reason for this is that bringing to light the hidden parts does not yet 

ensure their exposure. The symbolic language is the curtain that hides the beauty, as is 

described by Lacan (in Golan, 2002), hence the need for assistance by interpretation. Winnicott 

(1971) says that the exposure of the 'real self' via interpretation is the task of the subject 

himself. 

In my opinion, the wish to deal with self interpretation has already been hinted at via the act of 

painting, therefore the interpretation through investigative activity, using a qualitative approach, 

makes it possible to implement it. All the activities defined in the research as a 'chain' (both 

observations and interpretations) are an investigation of the 'self' that implies mental 

development, growth and empowerment (see chapter - Summary to the inquiry - p. 243-245). 

At this stage of the workshop the paintings become a vessel of the materials of the 'self' 

(Schaverien, 1995). The paintings are "written" in the language of art. Since they are a 

language, and because of the analogy of speech – writing – painting (Derrieda, 2002; Lacan in 

Vanier, 2003) they have been defined, in this research, as texts. Like paintings, so texts are 

constructed from several, complex layers, from exposed and outer strata that lie on top of 

inner, hidden ones (Kristeva, 1989). 

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The participants in the workshop have gone from a first stage of the investigation of the 'self', 

the 'mirror encounter', to the second stage in the 'artistic activity', and from there to the 

investigation of the text which is the present third stage, the 'investigative activity'. At the 

investigation of the text the researcher is the scientist and the paintings are the data that he 

wishes to interpret in order to learn about the phenomenon from which they developed. 

At the stage of the 'investigative activity', the participant learns a new language, the language 

of qualitative research. For this investigation I have developed a research method which 

complements the process of investigating the 'self', strengthens it and changes the structure 

that had been defined as a 'chain of observations' into a full and complete process for the 

investigation of the 'self', as a way to the development and designing the 'self'. 

The investigative method is described in the chapter of methodology (see chapter 5). The 

'hermeneutic investigation' as well as the process of creative thinking (Noy, 1999) is composed 

of two stages. One stage is scientific, structured, logical and methodical. On top of this a 

second layer is created that is open to creative thinking, intuitive, associative. The method I 

have suggested in my research is based on the 'hermeneutic investigation' of Allen and Jensen 

(1990). On this basis I combined the 'categorical context analysis' borrowed from the 

'Grounded theory' and the intertextual interpretative approach. 

The first stage that has been defined as 'content analysis' is structural, objective and 

methodical. This stage analyses the language of art and creates a tree of the categories of 

artistic means. One can say that the conscious 'ego' that edited, sorted and arranged the 

artistic means to create a whole, structured painting in the 'artistic activity' stage, is the 

conscious 'ego' that disassembles and classifies them into groups in the 'investigative activity' 

stage. Thus the 'designing ego' is created. This is the stage in which the foundation stones are 

laid on which the interpretation can be erected. This is also the stage of "distraction" in which 

the reader/interpreter can relate objectively to the text and analyse it according to what is in it 

alone. 

On these foundation stones a second stage of the 'hermeneutic investigation' is built. This is 

the stage of creating content, and is based on the intertextual interpretative approach (see 

chapter 5 – Methodology and Summary to the inquiry - p. 243-245). 

The interpretative approach has also a double meaning. On the one hand it is a method and 

tool for interpretative reading, and on the other hand it is a metaphor for investigation of the 

'self'. Peeling the various layers off the text in order to reach the deep, inner meaning that is 

hidden in it, is like the wish of the subject, on this journey of investigating the 'self', to reach the 

deep layers of his mind. This means that the text is the vessel of the contents of the 'self' and 

287

also its metaphor. This interpretative approach symbolises and typifies a journey of exposure, 

discovery and development. It is a kind of interpretative reading which is mainly interested in 

experiencing interpretative reading and the process itself (Lehman- Elkad, 2006). According to 

this approach, neither the text nor its author (Barthes, 2007) are important. The main thing is 

the interpretative process that is endless, open and able to produce many meanings. 

I describe this experiential interpretative journey as an investigation in three dimensions - 

length, width and depth. Lengthwise, the subject walks in a linear manner and passes from one 

interpretative process (art) to another (qualitative research). In the dimension of width the 

subject is present on two investigative tracks (structure and contents) in the same field 

(hermeneutic investigation). On the depth track the researcher focuses on the intertextual 

interpretative approach that burrows deeply into the text. I found in my research that the 

intertextual approach has also therapeutic values, and by this it works, again, together with the 

art's therapeutic values. 

When discussing the investigation of the 'self', this kind of investigation makes the person 

'multi-dimensional', this is a form of development and awareness (Phillips, 2004). It is the 

subject's ability to consider himself as one who contains his deeper being. Jung (1989, 1993) 

describes this as going down into an abyss; Strenger (2005) calls it the 'deep self'. Winnicott 

(1971) says that the 'real self' resides in the mind's depth. 

The intertextual interpretative approach enables the reader to burrow into the text, peel off its 

many layers and reach its deep contents. In this way the participant has a chance to reach the 

depth of his story that resides in the text, hides in the text, but sends out hints that make it 

possible to expose it. Thus the subject can bare his story and make it anew, re-create it. This is 

a two-directional situation in which the subject creates the text and the text creates the subject 

(Choen, 2005). (See summary of the inquiry p. 243-245) 

The post modern approaches to interpretative reading consider the interpreter a performing 

artist (Azulay, 2006). In this way this approach completes the circle of creation in this kind of 

investigation, and gives another expression and additional meaning to the dialogue between 

the artist and the researcher. Adding this interpretative approach to the method of analysis 

gives the research a dimension of creativity. The text awakens the interpreter, encourages him 

to be an excellent and creative interpreter (Eco, 2007). The text flirts with its reader (Barthes, 

2007). This approach completes the first structural, systematic, logical and objective stage and 

reinstates the creative spirit of the investigation that is at the base of the research. 

The objective of the workshop is to work on the investigation of the 'self', so as to create a 

meaningful life, based on the premise that the need for meaning is a basic, structured, need of 

288

the human being (Frankl, 1981). The three stages, starting from the 'mirror encounter' and up 

to the interpretative investigation, are processes of self discovery. Discovery not in the sense of 

invention but in the sense of processes of exposure- a process of mask removal. According to 

Jung (1993) such a process is lengthy, the depths of which are endless. There is no final, 

unequivocal answer. There is a journey and the actual being on this journey means 

development, Rogers (1961) too says that real self discovery is a process and not a one time 

achievement and that the removal of masks brings the subject nearer to awareness and 

recognition of inner experiences. Fabry (1983) continues the research of Frankl and 

emphasises that the actual ability to look beyond and under the mask is already raising a 

feeling of significance. 

In the present workshop the participant paints and in this way creates a metaphoric realisation 

of these masks, to return at a later stage and remove and peel them off (with the help of a 

qualitative investigation and the research method proposed in this research). The participant 

does this in order to create a portrait of the developing 'self'. 

Investigation of the 'self' in this research is one more way to be in what Netzer (2004) describes 

as a "journey to the 'self'", as Matri (2005) describes it as the "psyche's home" and as Choen 

(2005) compares it to " building the 'self' in the mind's sites". The search for meaning in the 

Sartre suggests (in Brinker, 1992) that the Socratic statement of "know thyself" here becomes a 

track on which man meets the materials of his life and constructs himself as a work of art. 

Strenger ( 2005) continues this idea and describes designing the 'self' as a work of bricolage, 

and Berridge (2008) creates a bricolage as an investigation and an autobiographical story. 

In this workshop, the various stages of the investigation of the 'self' create a situation in which 

the subject tells the life - narrative of himself. The encounter with the life materials from which 

he creates his narrative is accompanied by feelings of distress, fear and helplessness (see 

chapter 11 – Discussion). Frankl (1981) says that even though there are difficulties in this 

encounter, it is also part of the discovery and creating of meaning, and Jung (1993) calls this 

"the journey of the hero" (see chapter 11 – Discussion). 

The transition from the visual to the spoken language places the exposed the materials in front 

of the subject. But while he stands and feels the anxiety and helplessness from these 

exposures, he is also rewarded. The new words that show up from the interpretative process 

create meaning as well as life (Choen, 2005). In this way the 'chain of interpretations' 

represents two forms of autobiography. A visual autobiography from which the verbal 

autobiography grows. This is the sort of interpretation of the 'self', which is a form of 

autobiography (Phillips, 2004), that grows and develops during the process of self discovery 

289

and self creation. It is the fictional creation of the writer who creates his story and continues the 

process of creating the 'self' (Eakin, 1985). The participant gets to know himself and thus also 

creates himself. 

Discovery of meaning and creating a meaningful life also occur as the subject discovers his 

own uniqueness (Frankl, 1981). When the subject creates a poem, a painting or collage, he 

does it in his own way and only as he could do it –thus he creates his uniqueness and is 

rewarded with feelings of value and meaning (Fabry, 1983). 

In this workshop the participant acts like any qualitative researcher of narratives who collects 

life stories. Here, in a unique way, he collects the life story of himself. The collected life story 

becomes a tool for self study, for understanding the 'self', as well as a tool for creating the 'self' 

in a process of building and growing development. 


The research and its results have been presented here as a model of personal experience, and 

in this chapter I showed how it can be applied as well as validated. 

In this chapter I have presented a model in which I use my skills as a painter, my personal 

experience as a painter of self - portraits and one who has experienced the research method 

suggested here. 

I wish to claim that this model can be used in other contexts as well as expanded in other 

circles. It is possible to use this model as an investigative process of anthropological groups. 

To define a group and characterise it, activate it according to the same model and from the 

products obtained, receive insights about the group. In this case this method is similar to the 

interviews of life stories, but is conducted in a different manner, and thus it can also provide 

different knowledge. 

In this research I have used the fact that I know the subject matter and am experienced in it. 

From this basic knowledge I was able to start the research and develop the model. In this way I 

extracted the field of art, which is considered to be autonomic, placed it as an entity on its own 

and turned it into a tool for self development. This form of work creates an equation between 

the researcher of the self who is an interpreter, who at the end is a self therapist. I wish to see 

the language of art and the mirror encounter a type of unique opportunity for the investigation 

of the 'self'. For this reason I say that the Language of Art exists, is natural and also essential 

(Kandinsky, 1984; Scharfstein, 1989). The artist can take this language to great heights and 

290

create works of art of universal value, and others can use this language for communication, 

therapy, personal experience or even research. The value of this language is equal to the 

spoken language. A writer will use language to write exemplary stories, and everyone else will 

talk about and through it, communicate, investigate etc. This is the reason why I do not 

consider the portrait paintings as works of art but as visual images, texts, data that was 

produced for research. 

To sum up, I will use Italo Calvino's Metaphor in his book Invisible Cities, Cities and Eyes "The 

eye sees nothing but symbols of things, which mean other things…..What really is the city 

beneath the crowded cloak of signs and symbols like? What is in it and what does it hide?" 

(1997: 19) and I will add also Oscar Wilde's phrase about human being and his truth" When 

talking for himself, man expresses himself minutely. Give him a mask and he will tell you the 

truth" (1984: 8) 

The objective of this workshop is to create the musk in purpose to expose and reveal it. This 

process of being in the long lasting voyage of search means discovering and creating the 'self'. 

291

Epilogue 

In my personal journals kept throughout the research, I found passages that I named “Thoughts about 

Narcissism”: “Naturally I have doubts and questions of another kind. Really, what’s the story with 

this portrait painting and the self love?” (21.3.04). “I am frightened for a moment, unsure if it’s right 

for a person to investigate himself. Well, I put myself up for research. Because I’m talking of a 

person that is observing himself, all the while painting, reflecting his life through journals and in the 

end researches the whole process. This is really to be fully occupied with yourself. Sometimes I 

have a feeling… how long will I have the patience to stand in front of a mirror, to see myself and to 

produce another painting from it. It is clear to me that there will be a moment when I will tire of it and 

will no longer desire to touch a paintbrush. Sometimes I ask myself: "how much more can I do, 

another portrait and another portrait?” (24.3.04) 

“Why do I always have some teacher, some serious critic on my back, telling me no, no, no, that’s 

self love. What’s wrong with self love? What’s wrong with the fact that a person interests himself 

and that his inner sources provide him with enough interest? I still have to crack this subject and 

understand it” (13.4.04). 

I started this journey of investigation of the self two decades ago, long before I knew that it was a journey. 

“You will love doing this” my first painting teacher told me and he was right. I loved it and I also suffered. I 

thought then that I was dealing with my abilities as an artist. I was an available, flexible model and the mirror 

was always there. Every encounter held new hope for a better and truer painting. Without knowing it I was 

an investigative painter, or a painting investigator, painting herself. The journey that started then was 

interrupted without even knowing it was a journey. 

Six years ago I chose, this time knowingly, to be an investigator who paints, and a painter who investigates. 

I took myself on this journey “looking ahead”. The journey led and I followed behind with the tools I took for 

the journey (the tools and language of painting). I started the journey with the innocence of an artist desiring 

to paint herself. I arranged a frame of work for myself, defined it as research, set rules and boundaries and 

immersed myself in painting work that lasted about two years. The need and urge to be occupied with 

painting a self portrait suddenly also became a mission, a necessity and a commitment. I was innocent. I 

wanted to paint, I organised a research for myself, and found myself an investigator who now had to paint. It 

became a mission and I sacrificed myself (willingly) to research. 

1

My journals divulge that there were moments of elation and joy; and many other moments in which doubt 

crept in and to which pain and fear echoed. Life entered research, research entered life and I was in the 

middle, an artist investigating – herself. There were moments when going to the studio was difficult and 

burdensome and I searched for any and every reason to escape the task. In contrast there were moments 

and hours which I wanted to go on forever. Above all these, I knew I had sent myself on a mission in which I 

sentenced myself to speak with myself in the language of painting, and to investigate. To discover my 

enigma. Later on I understood this to be also the enigma of man, every man. 

I understood that the brushstrokes tracing my features were drawing the map of my soul. With brushstrokes, 

with colour covering colour, with a net of lines that cuts the colour spots, with materials that mix. With work 

inside a book, Song of a Dying Lake, that until then I didn’t know why I had chosen it and why I was 

returning to it again and again. Opposite me, on the wall, a canvas is stretched, on it is a huge portrait 

looking at me, and next to me on the work table a book, and I am both here and there. 

Our regular meeting – me and the mirror – started with me declaring to myself to paint a good self-portrait. 

Today I understand that I wanted to construct my identity through the definition of “a good artist”. Then I 

thought I had to finally succeed. Today I understand that I wanted to get confirmation that I am good and 

worthy. Then I thought that through the painting I could prove to myself, and in general, who I am. I thought 

that carrying out the mission will be proof of myself and of my capabilities, and I finally understood that 

being on a mission enabled me to create myself. Then I thought that the mission was to produce the 

product, but the reality I was in for such a long time revealed to me that the process of producing the 

product is the important dialogue. 

I created dozens of face paintings. I created faces on big canvasses, on paper in a sketch book and also in 

a book of photographs that tells the story of a dying lake. In this way I directly confronted the mythological 

Narcissus. “Egocentric activity?” I sometimes wondered. I calmed my conscience and said “But I have 

donated myself to research”. I dealt with research of the self – I learnt from myself, with myself, from within 

myself and of myself. More than once I remembered the words of the poet, Rachel (‘I knew no better than to 

tell myself / my world as narrow as an ant’s’ 1930), and smiled to myself – pride becoming modest. I could 

say, like her, “I knew no better than to paint myself”, and to continue to borrow and use the poem’s words 

‘my way like hers to the top/ a way of pain, a way of toil.” 

As a painter I wanted to paint, and all my thoughts were focussed on creation. My inner instincts made me 

understand that I was drawing my mental inner world. I knew the paintings held much more than I saw. My 

mission, the overt one, was to paint the image I saw in the mirror. But the painting has a way of its own, and 

2

it tells and holds within much more than can be seen. What am I doing there? What does it mean? What 

else can be revealed and be known in addition to that which is already revealed? This is what fascinated me 

and motivated me to investigate. I waited for the moment in which I myself would stand in front of the 

paintings and finally discover what is in them 

When I left the painting work and set out to research, I understood that for two years I had been telling 

myself a story I didn’t know how to read; I had been writing to myself in a secret code. I had prepared a 

nicely packed, colourful and aesthetic stockpile of materials for myself, which could stay like that forever but 

could also be uncovered. The act of painting had turned into a daydream. Dreams have to be interpreted –I 

know this because “A dream which is not interpreted is like a letter which is not read” (Talmud, Blessings 

Tractate, 55). The numerous face paintings I produced were like hieroglyphics that had to be deciphered. I 

had been the director of a dream, and now I must be the interpreter and later on the playwright who will 

write the story. In this way I understood that this is a creating process that may be infinite. I understood that 

the significance I was searching for was in the search itself. 

I exchanged my painting skills for investigative skills and found a whole new world. It became even clearer 

to me then that I was more of an investigator than a painter. I do this through painting on one occasion and 

by other means on other occasions. I speak to myself in two languages. I know how to use the first 

language but I don’t understand what I have said. The second language is in words and journals. There it 

dawns on me that actually I am not an artist, I don’t have anything to paint, just a face. I understood and 

also agreed to accept the fact that I am an investigator that uses painting for the purpose of research. And 

indeed it is so, the research is me, and my self is at the moment a subject for research, a case for research. 

As a creator/investigator I learnt about the power that a self- portrait painting has the potential that exists in 

this kind of pursuit. I underwent a journey of development and growth. I got to know parts inside me that 

were hidden even from myself. Indeed I learnt a lot about myself, but I also learnt a lot about the human 

soul. I understood that the path I walked was also a form of self-treatment. Art heals, Aristotle has already 

said, and I add art as interpretation, the art of interpretation. 

On this journey I learnt that something that is seen with a negative connotation like self-love can be 

described positively as a human passion for meaning and a meaningful life. I also learnt that perhaps it was 

in fact lack of self-love that caused me to compensate by doing work about me. It finally brought me to self- 

love. From this place of self-acceptance and love I can say that I received a gift and now I am able and 

willing to give it to others too. 

3

During the course of the research I dealt with psycho-dramatic activity under the guidance of Dr. Eli 

Avrahami. At the end of the activity I created an installation from all the paintings in the exhibition. The 

installation was a structure formed from all the portrait paintings – a self-portrait made up of portraits. It 

seemed that all my separated parts united into a consolidated and complete whole. Avrahami asked me to 

name the installation. I found it hard to find a name. After a long period of struggling with indecision I happily 

proclaimed, and named the installation “Until now it was a sketch – now I can start painting”. 

4

ILS. 27: the transparent portrait 

5 

Lighten Lighten the the the Shadow Shadow / /Nurith / / Cederboum 

From the shadow of my self profile 

loomed on the horizon of my soul. 

Glimpses 

both 

Frozen and soft 

Almost. 

Sagging eyes , angled mouth, 

beam of light 

behind. 

Out of the circle 

Dancing to the blue view. 

As the sparkling yellow stains 

have no pain. 

Starting To paint 

With no black 

Or muddy gray 

Like the Ash on the tray. 

Secret gaze, 

Enigmatic phrase 

Says: 

Straight ahead 

With double chin 

And pearl necklace. 

Moments of grace 

Time to paint 

The self and the portrait 

9/8/04

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18

App. 

No 

List D - Table of Appendices 

Chapter / categories Pages 

1 Chap. 3 - Designing the Research 1 - 4 

2 Chap. 7 - Image and Writing 5 – 41 

Catg. - Image Combined with Original, Printed Text 

Catg. - Image Combined with Printed Text and Handwriting Text 

Catg. - Image with Handwriting only 

Catg. - Image with Text Pasted on 

1 




34 - 41 

3 Chap. 8 - Colour 45 - 73 

Catg. - Black and White 

Catg. - Chromatics Variations 

Catg. - Dominant Colour - Blue 

Catg. - Dominant Colour – Red 

Catg. - Dominant Colour – Yellow 

Catg. - Contrast and Complementarity 






67 - 73 

4 Chap. 9 - Technique and Materials 74 - 102 

Catg. - Drawing in Charcoal and Pencil 

Catg. - Repeating Patterns 

Car. - Aquarelle 

75 - 76 

83 - 93 

93 - 102 

5 Chap. 10 - Organisation and Structure 103 - 116 

Catg. - Dismantling and Re-assembling

Appendix - 1 

Chapter 5: 

METHEDOLOGY 

A Psycho-Dramatic Process for Analysing Portraits – 

a. Description of Activity. 

Under the Guidance of Dr. E. Avrahami 

Meetings took place between Dr. Avrahami and me for the purpose of analyzing paintings, or in 

Dr. Avrahami's words "to expose the deep story of the painting". 

The process took place in several stages: 

1. Preliminary talks and discussions were held over a period of several months. In these 

talks the concept was determined, the method was presented and explained and the 

definition and framework of the planned activity was decided upon 

2. A marathon meeting of two days – 16 consecutive hours – took place. At this meeting I 

had to drop my role of creator / investigator and take on the role of curator. I prepared 

an exhibition of the whole collection of self-portraits drawings. 

3. Under the guidance of Dr. Avrahami, a psycho-dramatic process took place in the 

exhibition area, while I was standing in front of the paintings. 

4. The complete process was video taped and later on the computer. 

b. Principles of the process and methods of implementation 

The working premises of the meeting were drawn from the principles of psycho-dramatic 

narrative action. The principles are: 

1. Every painting has a story, i.e. a narrative 

2. All the paintings together have a narrative. 

3. These narratives can be exposed via the psycho-dramatic process of a dialogue with 

the artist standing in front of the paintings. 

The objectives of the meeting were: 

1. To decipher and expose the story hidden in the painting. 

1

2. To develop a method of analysis by which it will be possible to analyze one field of art 

with the help of another field of art. This will occur while a connecting thread of the 

mental processes that take place in each of these fields ties the two fields to each 

other. 

c. The Various Stages – Roles and Principles 

1. Creating a dialogue situation based on the principle of role playing. 

Role playing enables the participant to exit one state, which is his accepted and normative one, 

and move to another state. In this way it is possible to create different perspectives, breach 

conventions and expose – via play – what the painting hides. Avrahami bases his ideas on 

Moreno's approach. Moreno (1994) claims that through spontaneity one can create a 

breakthrough and 'demolish' a cycle of schemes which he defines as a 'culturally conserved 

product'. 

2. Usage of tools from another art language. 

The participant is requested to use tools from another art language. Whereas he is familiar with 

his own art language, he will now use schematic systems which he has not developed. Thus he 

will not act out of a 'culturally conserved system' (Moreno 1994), but will instead rely on 

spontaneity and intuition. In this way formerly blocked and hidden information and contents 

channels will be opened. Using different tools in the required activity awakens creativity and 

other ways of thinking. The artist was Familiar with the tools from the language of art, and here 

she had to use unknown tools. The result was that new points of view and angles came forth. 

"Guidance with the psycho-dramatic narrative enabled the researcher to acquire a new look at 

her self-portraits and discover the narrative of each painting as an autobiographical event, as 

well as view the 'exhibition' as an autobiographical narrative – a developmental process" 

(Avrahami, 1995). 

3. Role exchange. 

The artist was requested to exchange her role as creator and researcher with that of curator. 

She had to construct a rationale for the exhibition and prepare a document that described the 

'curatorial rationale'. Putting up the exhibition and preparing an ideational basis for it created a 

framework from which a single role arose. In addition to the role of curator, other roles and 

situations came up during the process, the role of patient, exhibition, colour palette, relater of 

2

narrative. Each of these roles provided a different point of view and brought forth additional 

stories. 

4. Stages and roles. 

The role of curator turned the artist into an interpreter who looks at works of art and is expected 

to create a 'story' from them (I use the word 'exhibition' in the sense of 'story', and 'curator' in 

the sense of 'editor'). 

The exhibition had several stages which developed during the activity. The first stage was the 

exhibition that was prepared in advance, and later a change was made in the objectives in the 

exhibition area according to the psycho-dramatic process and the advisor's instructions. The 

psycho-dramatic process was defined an "inter-psychic and intra-psychic work" (Avrahami, 

2006). 

The interpretations of the roles of curator appeared in various forms, as the curator of the 

exhibition responsible for the concept and text, commentator and critic of the exhibition, and as 

instructor and interpreter of the works in the exhibition. 

Every kind of commentary that comes from another observer, standing nearby (curator, critic, 

and interpreter) and not from the original creator, tells more about the painting. 

The psycho-dramatic process led to additional roles functions and activities, such as - 

- Converse out of the painting, in the painting's name, according to the role given. 

- Give each painting a name. 

- Construct additional installations from the exhibitions. 

- Conduct a dialogue among the paintings. 

- Conduct a dialogue with the paintings. 

Avrahami (2006) connects the process of discovery and exposure of the story in the painting, to 

psychological development. The story in the painting is its narrative, and as a narrative it is not 

the contents of the story but its inner messages. The contents are visual, and through them 

mental contents burst forth, contents that the psycho-dramatic process can release. The 

narrative is a story that is transformed through personal experience. This experience is 

influenced by character and personality, personal and social identity, beliefs and values and a 

personal world view (Avrahami, 2001). 

Summary 

3

The complete process has been documented on video tape, recorded on discs and also on the 

computer.I have chosen the materials obtained in the process as an alternative data bank 

(reservoir) which can be used for the reinforcement and proof of the validity of my research 

findings. 

4

Appendix 2 

Chapter 7: 

IMAGE AND WRITING – A CONFLUENCE OF LANGUAGES 

7.3.1 Images Combined with Original, Printed Text 

The words and sentences that were marked in the text in finding from 'Data Group' (A1 (a)): 

Fig. 8 

“so that we are not careful of being hurt by a fin”; “silence that follows the battle”; 

“curved and distorted”; “and papyruses paint paintings in the water”; “soft as velvet ”; 

“and seldom appears”. 

Fig. 8: 1 painting – Finding from 'Data Group' (A1 (a)) 

5

The research to examine the hidden dialogue that is woven between the new image (the 

portrait painting) and the words that were marked and that originate in an existing text. Note 

that, as the painter noted in her journals, these words were randomly chosen. 

The actual words were encircled and marked with a writing pen, as opposed to the other 

materials in the painting which are water colours. 

Three formative sets are thus formed: the printed writing, the writing pen markings, and the 

painting’s colours. Handwriting with a pen indicates personal writing and in this way the artist 

appropriates that which is written. The act of loaning from the text (Readymade) changes the 

words’ marking, severance and encircling a text of her own. In this manner she also creates a 

subversive distinction between printed writing which represents the culture of the masses, 

duplication and reproduction (Walter, 1991), and the pen which symbolises personal and 

unique written material. 

As an example we will examine the sentence “…and papyri paint paintings in the water”. 

Fig. 8: 1 Detail - Finding from 'Data Group' (A1 (a)) 

This sentence tells of a thin and pliant papyrus bush that draws lines in the water. The papyrus 

acts as a paintbrush and the water is the basis for the painting. What is the significance of the 

act of painting on water? A painting on water is a painting that is obliterated and erased. This 

act creates an associative link to the expression “to write on water”, that describes a kind of act 

6

that leaves no trace. An act the execution of which cannot be discerned and its significance is 

as if it ‘didn’t occur’. An anonymous quote “we cannot write on water...we cannot engrave on 

water. Water’s nature is to flow and so should we relate to life...to emotion, positive or negative” 

(Anderson, 2002: 59). 

As opposed to the papyrus in the text that paints on the water, the artist paints a water painting 

(an aquarelle) on paper with a paintbrush. Once again a tension of opposites is created, 

between the papyrus that paints a drawing on water that is destined to be erased in the current 

and a water colour painting painted on paper and destined to remain there. The irony is 

revealed when we find out that the papyrus bush is a kind of bush from which the papyrus 

paper was produced in Ancient Egypt. Hence the papyrus is not a paintbrush but a paper in its 

other reincarnation, and the paper is the one that contains a water painting. Added to this is the 

general concept in which the artist is the one who is painting her portrait on paper that tells of a 

lake, and in many other places in the book she is imprinting her portrait on a photograph of a 

lake, in other words on water. 

Fig.56: 2 painting– Findings from 'Data Group' (A1 (a)) 

Thus a dialogue of tensions is created between what is stated in the original text and the 

opposite act that the artist is carrying out. And the papyrus has a double role, one as a 

7

paintbrush for a painting that will completely disappear and will leave no mark and the other as 

a paper upon which the painting does leave its mark. 

The papyrus bush returns and appears as an illustration, when it is drawn in thin and winding 

lines upon the portrait. These lines present the papyrus bush as being drawn and not as the 

one that draws. This is the papyrus bush that does remain engraved on a painting, a painting 

that is painted using a water technique. 

Fig. 8: Detail 2 - Finding from 'Data Group' (A1 (a)) 

8

In this finding a powerful encounter between lips and writing was created. 

Fig. 8: 1 Painting – Finding from 'Data Group' (A1 (a)) 

The writing appears from every direction, bursting forth and reflecting, and the lips both delimit 

it and enable it to reflect and to break through from all directions. “The mouth is considered to 

be the connecting point between the inner world and the outer world. It expresses man’s inner 

world in the world which is outside, and through it the outer world finds its way to man’s 

stomach” (Fishman, 2008: 263). The mouth also symbolises the power of speech and the 

creating word (ibid.). 

In this finding the mouth is placed on the text – alternately hiding and revealing it. Here, too, the 

artist marks a few words and sentences intuitively. We wish to examine the connection 

between these words and the image and to see how the text devises its meanings for itself and 

by itself, and how the intertextual inner dialogue is conducted. 

The marked words are “’loa’ – blackens” (in Hebrew the word ‘loa’ means both pharynx and a 

volcano’s crater) : “the water’s surface a riddle it is all is reflected in it and hidden”: 

“tearing the thin threads, or that the single fish caught in it slips away in front of his 

eyes”: “to discover a new face”. 

9

The research examines their significance and the connection between them and the image. 

The pair of words “’loa’ (pharynx/crater) blackens” is located near the upper lip. 

Fig. 8: 1 Detail – Finding from 'Data Group' (A1 (a)) 

The word ‘loa’ in Hebrew – ‘loa’ – is both “pharynx” and “the opening of the volcano” 1 . The 

pharynx is the place that swallows and in contrast the volcano’s crater is the place that 

discharges. This pair of words embodies the tension of opposites – to swallow or to discharge? 

To reveal or to hide? The swallowing or discharging acts are also described visually. The paint 

covering the letters seems to be swallowing them, and the letters are again peeking out and 

being discharged in places where the paint is weakened. ‘Loa’ also serves as the resonance 

home for voices created by the voice box situated in the throat 2 . In this way ‘loa’ reminds us 

that writing is actually a substitute for speech (Derrida, 2002). Therefore the shape that seems 

to be connected to sight also has a voice connected to the hearing sense – Synaesthesia. 

The image of the ‘loa’ which is also a volcano’s opening receives reinforcement through the 

paint spots that are placed near this word – red, yellow, orange and black – which are the 

stormy lava fire’s colours, while the black text words appearing from all over can symbolise the 

lava stones. Perhaps they are stormy, raging words wanting to come out in spite of the sealed 

lips. Sometimes words blurted out of the mouth can be like “boiling lava”. The “blackening ‘loa’” 

and the colours of fire surrounding it once again bring us back to the description of the 

Revelation at Sinai “...that there were thunders and lightning, and a thick cloud upon the 

1 Even Shoshan’s Hebrew-Hebrew dictionary. 

2 Ibid. 

10

mount....” (Exodus, 19, 16), “And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke"(Exodus 19, 18). 

Here too one can see that the intuitive choice of words acts in a thinking path of its own and 

displays once again proof of the text having a subconscious of its own (Azulay, 2006). 

As an illustration of this pair of words, one can see the nasal cavern, the nostril that is painted 

above the lip, as also appearing like a ‘loa’. 

Fig. 8: Detail 2– Finding from 'Data Group' (A1 (a)) 

The next marked sentence says: “the water’s surface a riddle it is all is reflected in it and 

hides the” 

Fig. 8: Detail 3 – Finding from 'Data Group' (A1 (a)) 

11

This sentence can serve as a heading for all of the painting on this page, because it describes 

in words what is happening on the page. This sentence itself is reflected and hidden at the 

same time. On the one hand it is emphasised and prominent and on the other hand it is hidden 

by a network of lines. This sentence, too, represents Lacan’s (2003) approach which explains 

that it is in fact the unconcealed sign that testifies to that which it is hiding. Or, as Barthes 

(2007) emphasises, writing actually served sometimes, and perhaps always, to hide what was 

placed in it for safekeeping. This illustration, in which the lines blur the writing that is struggling 

to be revealed, visually describes this saying. 

In the book of Proverbs (27, 19) there is a verse that says “As in water face answereth to 

face...” It means to point out a situation in which faces reflect one to the other, as a reflection of 

the face in water. The sentence marked says “the water’s surface a riddle it is...” and sees 

the duality that “all is reflected in it and hidden in it”. 

This sentence describes, in its way, the phenomenon of revealing and hiding that was 

mentioned already dealt with previously. Additionally, it is the very centre of all the work in the 

investigation of the inner self, painting a self portrait, observing the mirror and the overall 

question hovering in this research - does what is found on the face (panim) 3 also reflect the 

interior (pnim) 4 ? ‘As in water, face answereth to face’ also reminds one of L'evinas'(2007) 

phenomenology of the face (chapter 4 – Ethics) which discusses the wonder of subjectivity. ‘As 

in water face answereth to face’ is actually the great sentence that describes the encounter 

between the portrait and the lake (or on the lake, or in the lake). 

The sentence “tearing the thin threads, or that the single fish caught in it slips away in 

front of his eyes” is caught from within the text and from between the network of lines drawn 

upon it, like a fish caught in a net. In contrast to the details painted on the entire page, in this 

part of the page there aren’t any colours and there is no figurative image. A net of dense lines 

marks the chin’s location. An intricate net of lines out of which words and letters peek, looking 

like a metaphor for fish caught in a net. As indeed it is stated in the sentence itself “tearing the 

threads [...] the caught fish”. 

3 The Hebrew word 

4 The Hebrew word 

12

Fig. 8: Detail 4 – Finding from Data Group (A1 (a)) 

Ovadiya (2003), in her article about her writing struggles, compares the act of writing to a net 

and the words to the fish caught in it “and the fish swim in its water among the grilles of the 

language”. The physical net of lines created on the page indeed captures the words, as well as 

the thoughts that are in the rear of the soul. As It was mentioned before, just as the contents 

hang and lean upon the material word (Golan, 2002), messages from the subconscious are 

caught in the paintbrush’s strokes and the picturesque symbols (Dalley 1995) or in the shape 

and symbol’s net (Storr, 1991), so does the fish, caught in the net and serving here as a verbal 

and visual metaphor, tell of the struggle between silence and speech, especially since the fish, 

although being analogous here to words, itself represents silence. 

7.4 Images combined with printed and handwritten texts 

Fig.10 (d): 2 Items – Words detached from Text – detail - Findings from 


13

1 

2 

Again, Dadaism peeks out of these findings, not only because of the hint of 'Readymade'. The 

Dadaist revolt strove to blur the borders between spheres of culture, between art and non-art, 

between approaches and disciplines, materials and style (Hakkert, 1992). The spirit of the 

Dadaist revolt, which originated in pain, anxiety and anger, is consistently alluded to in this 

work of art. Dadaist artists and poets conducted poetry sessions in which they read different 

poems simultaneously, making a polyglot poetry. Hugo Ball (1886 – 1927, Dada artists) said 

that this kind of Poetry represented the struggle between the human voice and the world that 

threatened to trap and destroy it (Reinhart, 2000). Two texts that appear next to each other in a 

painting look like an illustration of polyglot poetry. Tristan Tsara, philosopher, writer and poet, 

and founder of the Zurich Cabaret, set out a "recipe" for composing a Dadaist poem: "To write 

a Dadaist poem, take a newspaper and a pair of scissors, choose an article the length of which 

is of the desired poem, cut out the article and then cut out each word of the article and place in 

a bag. Gently shake the bag. Now remove the bits one by one in the way they are in the bag. 

Copy faithfully. The poem will be like you. Now you are original and charmingly sensitive and 

gifted writers, even though it is beyond the understanding of the vulgar people" (quoted in 

Reinhart, 2000: 73). 

From the artist's diary it appears that there is a similarity between what she does and Tsara's 

recipe: "When I look through the newspaper I choose sentences and/or photographs that 

catch my eye, without asking why, with no plan, without delaying too long, I see a 

14

sentence. If it catches my eye or my attention, if it seems to speak to me, I cut out and 

keep it. Later when I rummage though the cut pieces in front of me, I choose a sentence, 

a painting or a photograph and add them to the Dying Lake "(A2 (b) 18.4.04). The 

Dadaism that riddles this work of art tells us also about conscious and subconscious 

motivations. 

In his The psychology of Dadaism, Kreitler (1959) writes that the Dadaist artist chose art as a 

source of fun and games, as a hiding place to escape to, that provided protection from a cruel 

and threatening world. The artist herself considers the 'book object' a place to which she can 

run and 'play' – " I decided to see the Dying Lake as my sketch book […] and more, and 

do what I fancy, whether right or not" (A2 (b) – 13.3.06). "Even before I take leave of the 

painting I go for a rest, to play a little in my book (the one of Peter Merom which I stole 

and invaded). To relax a little and play" (A2 (b) – 29.3.06). 

This is also the search for her mental space (see Sarah’s Tent, Chapter 5). The dialogue here 

takes on two forms and has two stages. One form and stage is when a text is born from 

another text and the other is what arises from the adjacency of two texts. It is a metaphor for 

growth, development and change, and for struggle and birth. There are stages of destruction 

when the artist breaks the original text, disassembles and appropriates it. Out of the struggle, 

separation and dismantling something new is born – a new text. But it is also like the 

'Readymade' that retains the old from which it was built. One can witness the process of 

deconstructing the whole and creating a new totality -- as in Sarah’s Tent (see chapter 5, 

Section 5, and an expansion will be discussed on chapter – 9; 'Dismantling and Re- 

assembling'). 

Following is an example of how a new text is formed out of the original text. The text formed out 

of the original lies near it and is written in handwriting – finding from Data Group (A1 (a)): Fig. 

10 


15

The words and sentences randomly marked are: 

“All spirits are silent for some time”/ “and the night’s sounds” /”its monotonous call” 

/everything is so familiar/ that encompass it/ all its curves and inlets/ we are home. 

The artist composes a new text from these words and puts it near the ‘mother text’. 

Following is the new text: 

“All is so familiar, all is so familiar/ no longer strange/ the monotony/ and we are always 

at home. 

All is so familiar, and nothing is allowed/, all the spirits, in all directions/ have silenced/ 

and the night’s sounds. 

The heart’s curves and inlets/ have silenced? / Those are already the night’s sounds. 

Spirits are encompassing us/ and the heart’s curves and inlets/ like the croaking of 

thousands of frogs. 

These are the night’s sounds/ silent for some time/ the sounds of its call/ the 

monotonous 

16

We are at home they say, (p. 22). 

Fig. 10: 2 Painting - Finding from 'Data Group' (A1 (a)) 

The sentences marked and emphasised were: 

A whisper-shiver went through the reeds; some sort of life; with sharp picks; its skin 

salivary and elusive. See, it will slide as a snake; and the fisherman’s heart beats; what 

is labour’s part; what is luck’s value; becomes entangled between the delicate threads; 

These sentences, like their predecessors, were taken from the original text. The artist built a 

new text from them: 

What is labour’s part/ what/ luck’s value/ its part/ some sort of life/ 

The net as a skein/ some sort of life/ becomes entangled between the delicate threads/ 

shiver/ whisper in the reeds/ some sort of life/ 

Luck’s value/ it is labour’s part/ and the net as a skein/ some sort of life 

17

And the fisherman’s heart beats. (p. 27) 

Fig. 10: 3 Paintings – Finding from 'Data Group' (A1 (a)) 

The sentences marked and emphasised: 

Causing the lakeshore to speak; shepherds have marched in its lanes; on water that has 

flooded: we hear and feel all these at night; swampy soft marshland; connected to a net; 

and sometimes vacant and enraging; the night is cold; the lake doesn’t easily give up 

the net: and it clings to it with fingers; 

The new text created from these sentences: 

Causing the lakeshore to speak/ and it clings to it with fingers/ 

Swampy soft marshland/ shepherds have marched in its lanes/ 

We hear and feel all these at night/ causing the lakeshore to speak/ 

On water that has flooded/. 

18

We hear and feel all these at night/ the night is cold/ the lake doesn’t easily give up/. 

And it clings to it with fingers/ the night is cold/ causing the lakeshore to speak/ 

And sometimes vacant and enraging/. 

Marshland/ soft/ swampy/ 

Shepherds have marched/ in its lanes/ the night is cold and connected to the net/. 

The research have presented these texts in order to show how a text is born out of a text, as It 

was shown in previous findings (Sarah’s tent) how a painting is born out of a painting. 

The new texts that have been created are also a source for interpretation, and from them the 

interpretation can be broadened and additional material can be uncovered. 

7.5 Images with Handwriting text only 

Fig. 10(b): 1 Detail – Finding from 'Data Group' (AI (a)) 

The handwritten words cover the face, peek out of it or are next to it on the same level. All of 

them describe the phenomena defined in earlier chapters (Polyphony, Palimpsest, and 

Bricolage). Next to these a dialogue of contrasts continues. One can notice an encounter 

between drawing and handwriting ( and these two do have a common denominator), a 

19

formative struggle takes place between soft and hard, straight and curved, thin and thick, 

transparent and opaque, vertical and horizontal – a multitude of contrasts that are expressed in 

a visual language. All of them together, like polyphony – present a product that in the end is 

harmonious. As in polyphonic music, they demand a special kind of listening. These findings 

serve as a metaphor for the Hebrew word for face which also means area as well as the 

contents, and the face of a person. 'Panim' (in the sense of front, face) includes the word 'Pnim' 

(interior, inside, inward, within). 

Fig. 13: 1 Painting and 1 Detail – Finding from 'Data Group' (B1 (b)) 

Lacan's metaphor for the phenomenon he points at is "The curtain that hides the beauty". This 

means that the visible part is only a curtain, and the real thing is behind it. In her journals, the 

artist describes the writing that wanders over all the faces with verbal expressions such as "the 

writing on the wall", "mark of Cain", "tattoo" (A2 (a) – 23.2.04). 

Back to the central unit of analysis finding from Data Group (A1 (a)): Fig. 10b, presents a 

similar phenomenon of a portrait covered with handwriting. 

20

Fig. 13(a, b): 2 Paintings – Image and Handwriting – Findings from 

'Data Group' (BI (b)) 

The significance of these two paintings is that while they are not paintings made in the 'Book 

Object' but they do have writing in them. So, one can notice that the artist’s combination of 

Image and Writing is not a one- time occurrence. Combining writing with image is part of her 

working language, a tool in her personal tool box "As far as I am concerned, letters, words, 

writing are integral parts of my work, have 'always been…Moreover, they are part of me, 

an inseparable part" (A2 (b) – 23.2.04). In Appendix 6 the artist describes extensively in her 

journals how, when working on this picture, writing as a graphic form had gained control over 

her. 

1 

The harmony of contrasts is expressed in Fig. 13a (1) – black and white, pursed lips that do not 

speak versus writing that covers the whole picture like a screen of words. One can read this 

picture as a metaphor of Lacan's (in Vanier, 2003) approach when he says that spoken words 

serve as camouflage for real intentions 

21 

2

Fig. 13(b): – 1 item - Handwriting cover the portrait – detail – Finding from 


Fig.13a (2), alludes to the story of the imprisoned bird that flies to freedom. The artist locks up 

the image in a tight frame. Around it she writes "Do not be afraid to run". This sentence 

connects to the earlier sentence (Fig.12a (1) "Be quiet, don’t talk and fly like a bird". In her 

journal she writes about this painting "I put myself into a frame. The frame presses my face 

and its surroundings. The whole frame is red as blood. During the work I wrote above 

it…“Do not be afraid to run”!!! This was a result of the sudden need to run and do with 

this work whatever I wanted. Not to fear to paint, to spread paint, not to fear to be 

inaccurate, to lift the paintbrush, not to fear to spoil – to run. And suddenly I thought 

that the approval I gave myself was also a confirmation of other important decisions I 

have to make" (A2 (b) – 1.6.04). 

22

The intertextual approach encourages the interpretative reader to hold on to these hints so as 

to expose the inner, deeper text. The sentence sequences that appear in these findings are "I 

have beautiful birds and they fly", "Soft mouth, flower", "Mirror, mirror tell me…" The 

study chooses one finding as example (Fig.11a (1)) as a point of departure to demonstrate the 

process of the Intertextuality decoding 

The sentence that repeats itself consecutively in finding from Data Group (A1 (a): 11 is “mirror 

mirror come on, tell me...” 

Fig. 11: 1 Painting – Finding from Data Group (A1 (a)) 

This sentence graphically creates a decorative and curly frame around the painting. It looks like 

an ornamental frame and repeats itself consecutively. The repetition emphasises it and in this 

manner also marks it as an important sentence that is repeated and said again and again as a 

call or shout. The sentence planted here in the text is a familiar and well-known sentence that 

is taken from the famous children’s fairy tale “Snow-white and the Seven Dwarves”. The mirror 

23

is hinting about reflection, self observation and self love, all at the same time. It is echoing 

Narcissus, the Queen Mother and the existential question of who am I and how do I deal with 

the problem of perishable time (Bettelheim, 1987). These also correspond with the story of the 

lake – the book’s story and with the artist’s act who is painting a self portrait in front of a mirror. 

The image sits in a frame that stands on legs, and resembles a mirror in shape. The image is 

painted using the aquarelle technique and complements the idea of water and the reflection. 

This ensemble of mirror images echoes a mirror that was mentioned already met in the 

previous chapter (mirror fragments and the discussion about a mirror in general). 

“Mirror mirror, come on, tell me” repeatedly reverberates around an echoing painting to the 

research’s concealed overall question that asks ‘who am I’. It is a pestering question and when 

it doesn’t appear in this manner of a sentence that repeats itself it is expressed in a concealed 

way by means of the artist repeatedly painting more portraits. “Come on, tell me” she says, and 

tries to get an answer by creating again and again. 

Later on one can see that just as the artist uses sentences that were in the book as a source of 

inspiration and creates a text of her own out of them; here she is using a sentence of her own 

and produces text from it. The sentence that was spinning around the portrait’s painting in the 

mirror turns into a developing source that the artist is writing underneath the painting. 

“Mirror mirror tell me/ and it is silent / but what? It reveals/ well, so? / Mirror mirror tell 

me/ least said soonest mended”. The tension of opposites between silence and speech 

appears here as well. “Come on, tell me” and “it is silent”, and in its silence it reveals “but 

reveals”. Finally, although questioning in a pestering manner, it sums it up with a saying “least 

said soonest mended”. This saying strengthens the feeling of tension and the struggle that 

exists all along the way between silence and speech. 

The mirror has an important role. It is a means for painting, it is material (in the artist’s earlier 

paintings), and it is an image. It is implied in the lake, and here it appears in the words and the 

painting. The existence of the mirror presents a dilemma and a struggle. Snow-white’s Queen 

Mother is anxious about her perishable feminine beauty and goes to the mirror to hear the truth 

from it (Bettelheim, 1987). The artist’s meeting with the mirror and the reverberation to a 

familiar fairytale implies and tells about the struggle of the artist with her femininity, with the 

consuming and vandalising time – Snow-white, her youth and beauty and the struggling older 

24

woman. Thus another character is added to the gallery of characters that poke out of the text 

and deepen its significance. 

The mirror tells the truth without using words. Perhaps that is why the artist says here “least 

said soonest mended”. In contrast, the mirror in the fairy tale is exceptional and one of its 

wonders is that it talks, and in this manner the fairy tale overcomes the power of repression and 

discusses the questions that present a frightening facet of competitive femininity (Hirshfeld, 

1992). Confronting the mirror, and the desperate cry “mirror mirror, come on, tell me” refers not 

only to Snow-white’s mythological mother but also to Dorian Gray’s hero/protagonist (Wilde, 

1984). Gray fights the looking glass because he fears the truth it presents, as opposed to the 

painting that freezes time. Dorian Gray expresses his repression by pushing the mirror away, to 

the attic. He transforms the painting into his mirror, and stays young. Dorian Gray is also 

alluded to in the artist’s work and through him her own anxieties, apprehensions and struggles 

are alluded to. "How sad it is! I will age and become awful and horrible, but the painting will 

remain forever young” (Wilde, 1984: 12). 

Finding from Data Group (A1 (a)): fig.11 (2) also displays a sentence that continuously repeats 

itself. This time it is not a familiar sentence taken from the collective memory but a kind of play 

on words. ‘Perach, and Pe- Rach’ (In Hebrew ‘Perach’ means flower, and ‘Pe- Rach’ means 

gently persuasive). 

Fig.11: 2 Painting – Finding from Data Group (A1 (a)) 

25

Here, too, the curled and uniform writing and the sentence that repeats itself create texture, 

movement and decorativeness. An image of lips (mouth) is painted on this curly background, a 

phenomenon that was mentioned met before. 

Here and there the phenomenon is a meeting of lips and text alone, but here the text is formed 

by the artist’s handwriting. It is a meeting that has been initiated, in which the artist uses 

handwriting to prepare a background and then paints lips on it. A polar ambiguity is formed 

here as well. On the one hand the lips delimit the words and form a border 5 (lip – ‘safa’) and on 

the other hand the words come from all directions and are also reflected through the lips; the 

mouth that on the one hand symbolises the power of speech and the creating word (Fishman, 

2008) and on the other hand two closed sealed lips. Once again the tension of opposites 

between silence and speech comes up. 

This tension is intensified from within by the word play of 'perach '(Flower) and 'pe - rach' 

(gently persuasive). Not only do these two words have an identical sound in Hebrew, but the 

meaning they create also overlaps. For one can compare ‘gently persuasive’ to a ‘flower’. The 

visual text does not remain lacking and indeed in addition to the lips’ image that painting also 

has an image of a flower that is located in the page next to it (this issue will be enlarged upon in 

a different context). The combination of a softly persuasive flower and lips also emits sexual 

5 In Hebrew the word ‘safa’ (lip) also means border. 

26

connotations; from the analogy between the mouth and the feminine sex organ (Fishman, 

2008). The writing itself that appears in a round and curly form, also echoes in its shape the 

expression “trilling with his words (‘mesalsel’ in Hebrew is both curling and trilling) which means 

gently persuasive. In all these the research finds a reversal for the words that in another place 

were compared to burning lava. 

The artist’s connection to words and her need to integrate them with the images and in the 

painting is also apparent from inside the paintings that were made outside the ‘Book-Object’. In 

her reflective work journal the artist describes how this work developed. From this description 

one can learn of the artist’s connection to words and her need to integrate them in her work. 

“From my point of view, the letters, the words and the writing are an integral part of my 

work. It has always been so, and it is certainly so now. More than that, it is a part of me, 

an inseparable part [....] apart from that, the script and the writing did not give up, they 

won, they are already engraved and located on the painting [....]. I felt that I wanted to 

add writing to the painting. I abandoned the thought, repressed it maybe even fought it, 

and at a certain moment it burst out as if by itself and from that moment on it is no 

longer in my hands. [....] Finally, the white chalk won, it drew my hand towards the black 

area that reminds one of a school blackboard [....]. I am standing and writing on a black 

surface with a white chalk. With great ease I started to scribble and write intuitively, 

anything that came to my heart and mind, without a logical connection, without referring 

to style or writing. Everything that came to mind at that moment was written flowingly, in 

curly, unclear writing, which could have been Arabic or Hebrew. The writing, in this 

context of the painting, became a continuity of very thin white signs, like drawn 

embroidery” (A2 (a) – 23.2.04). 

From the things she said one can learn that she has a powerful need, perhaps an 

unexplainable one, to engage in writing and words; yet it is an intuitive and spontaneous act. 

The artist proves here that using writing is on the border between painting and writing, and it 

serves them both. “The writing began on what is named the background and naturally 

continued also onto the portrait. The writing ignored the three dimensional image and 

changed the painting into a two dimensional surface, as is the real function of paper that 

one writes on. Surely paper bleeds little [....]. So I wrote on the work, continuously and 

with tempo, consistently, methodically and in a kind of rhythm. Throughout the work’s 

length and breadth, simply my thoughts as they came without order and without a 

27

directing decision. Naturally, some images came to mind while I was writing. “The 

writing on the wall”, “the mark of Cain”, “tattoo”. All these went on the face from one 

end of the page to the other end, adding more texture, additional motion. I am looking 

now, it’s as if it is me and I have something to say” (A2 (a) – 23.2.04). 

7.5.1 Decoding words Intertextuality: "I have birds in my head" 

In Finding Fig.11a(1) the portrait image is in the centre, on both sides are birds and on the top 

as background, written in curly and repetitive handwriting, is the sentence "I have birds in my 

head, they fly, they fly". At first glance it seems that the images are simply an illustration of 

the sentence. But a deeper look leads the reader to a further understanding. This repeated 

sentence quotes from a well known song in Hebrew song culture, Birds In My Head, which 

goes: "I’ve birds in my head and they are lovely, they are lovely. I’ve birds in my head and they 

fly, they fly". 

So, the artist has taken a sentence from the Israeli collective cultural memory and planted it in 

a visual text. In Modern Hebrew, the idiom 'birds in your head' refers to unrealistic, illogical or 

unstable thinking. The song itself describes the ties between the singer and his birds, who say 

that even his beautiful thoughts run away from him, are scared of him because the birds think 

he is a scarecrow. The birds represent thoughts, perhaps forbidden thoughts, and the letters 

themselves actually look like flying birds. Thus the sounds of the song are added to what we 

see – another instance of synaesthesia. 

The reference to a well-known song leads the researcher, as in a detective story, to additional 

insights. Who composed the song? What is the significance of the composer? When was the 

song composed? Who sang it and so on? All these help expose the depth of the text and the 

artist's world that shapes her portrait. 

The categorical content analysis led to the connection between image and writing. This 

connection led to the text, and the Intertextuality analysis has led to birds. The birds are thus 

the very end of a thread running though the text. The study here want to hold the bird that 

emerges from this analysis, as though it were the end of Ariadne's thread that will guide the 

researcher through the maze of interpretation (Levi, 1986). Elkad-Lehman (2006), quoting 

Kristeva (1989), says that "Every word (text) is a crossroads of words (texts), a crossroads at 

which we can read at least one other text " (p.23). The study wishes to add that every image is 

28

a crossroads of images, and any encounter between text and image is also a multi-directional 

crossroads. The study wishes to stand at the crossroads of these words and images, hold onto 

the bird that was discovered and follow it on a ‘journey of detection’. the study will track this 

inner discourse holding on to the end of the thread, which is the bird and drawing on the 

principles which activate the thought mechanisms of the creative process, which are also the 

principles of the Intertextual analysis and Interpretative. 

(a) Texts and Images – following the bird’s journey 

The study presents now a series of findings in which the image of a bird stars and is combined 

with various kinds of text, especially external text written or pasted on. 

Fig. 12(a, b): 9 Paintings - Bird Images- Findings from 'Data Group' (A1 (a)) 

29

8 

1 

3 

6 

9 

30 

4 

7 

2 

5

In Fig.12a (2) the sentence "I have birds in my head, they fly" is repeated -depicted printed 

letters. In this finding one eye looks towards the horizon, the original text is inserted above the 

lips, the other eye is missing and the birds on the right side are spreading their wings and 

flying. The study mentioned earlier the tension of opposites that appears in this work. Now 

these are joined by flying birds and a verbal comment of the artist on what is going through her 

head. The fact that this sentence is repeated from a former finding signifies that the bird is an 

important symbol. Metaphorically, one can say that the texts represent speech, alternately 

hidden and exposed, but that thoughts are free and fly. Fig.12a (3) seems to illustrate this. 

On this subject the artist says in Fig.12a (1) in vertical writing that divides the two adjacent 

pages, "Speak less, be silent, even fly like a bird". The texts talk to each other about speech. 

On the right side of the page the irregular, pasted-on text, stands out and is also underlined in 

red. This text says "My words are my tears". It is the first part of the "Speak less" sentence 

that crosses the page and reverberates with the text on the right of the page. On the left side 

(Fig.12(c)) of the page the artist answers her own call to "fly like the birds". Here she 

responds to what occurs on the left side. In small black letters she again and again scribbles 

the sentence "What do the wandering birds say". The letters and words combine with a flock of 

flying birds and look like migrating birds. Both words and birds fly. The words are a quote from 

another well-known song, also part of the Israeli collective memory. 

Ils 4: Images – Birds and Portrait 

31

Fig. 12(c): 1 Item – Letters and Birds – detail – Finding from 'Data Group' 

(A1 (a)) 

Another melody echoes and joins the Synaesthesia and Polyphony we mentioned earlier. For 

anyone familiar with Hebrew songs and the period in which they were written, these two songs 

can continue the associative chain and recall another song, "If birds could talk like people". 

The interpreting reader has to use his all-round knowledge to make the text meaningful (Elkad - 

Lehman, 2006) 

The migrating birds of the song correspond with the story of the book, of Lake Hula and the 

Land of Israel. The song says "What did the migrating birds say, what did they say to the paths 

and fields, they said – goodbye, evening has come and we have a long way to fly". This is a 

kind of memorandum of Lake Hula that was formerly a resting place for migrating birds, who 

stopped coming when the lake was drained and returned when it was rehabilitated into a nature 

reserve. The migrating birds symbolise nature's cycle, the struggle for survival and renewed 

blossoming. Migrating birds symbolise a cycle and carry a promise, a promise to return. 

The migrating birds also serve as a metaphor for the cycle of mental development. The birds’ 

journey of thousands of kilometers on which they cope with many dangers is a metaphor for 

life's mental cycle, which Pinkola- Este's (1997) defines as the cycle of life / death / life. Jung 

(1993) calls it the hero's journey, a journey through many hardships at the end of which there is 

development and growth. 

32

Birds usually represent freedom and release. But in Fig.12ab (5, 6, 7) the artist imprisons them. 

She isolates a group of birds from the other images, highlights it, and in the same way that she 

encloses words from the text she encloses flocks of birds in a square. These birds conduct a 

dialogue with other birds in the book which have the good fortune to fly. But here too, the 

tension of contrasts holds a promise, a promise of growth and blossoming as it is appears in 

Fig. 12b (8). In this finding the bird has been released and flies with a wide wing span and on 

the margins the artist pastes a text, which says "Renaissance". The journey of the hero ends 

in growth and development. The artist adds a green background to the picture also alluding to 

growth. On the sides of the page she pastes another heading, "We made it". 

The bird leads the reader on, in its own way, to connections with the locality and roots of the 

artist, which are part of constructing her identity. These are the Israeli songs which describe the 

culture she grew up in, the lake and its story, the migrating birds. All these are alluded to in the 

glued and borrowed sentence "The wise man, what does he say?" in Fig. 12b (6). In this 

finding, the birds imprisoned in a square seem to have stopped in mid-flight. The sentence, 

taken from the Passover Liturgy, again alludes to the collective memory of the exodus from 

Egypt, of slaves who became a free people (recall the Song at the Sea in Chapter 5). The 

confined bird symbolises slavery which is the lowly stage in the Hero's Journey (Jung, 1993). 

But there is the implied promise the "migrating birds" carry and the revival alluded to in the 

word 'renaissance' ( Fig.12b(8)). Fig.12b (9) sums this up in the photograph in which a huge 

bird spreads its wings across the whole page as opposed to the dark and melancholy square of 

the birds in Fig.12b (6). The artist decorates the bird with many coloured lines, almost like a 

peacock, and pastes on a heading cut from a newspaper that says "Pride of Israel". 

The bird leads the reader through this maze of interpretations represents the attachment of the 

artist to the country and to her inner soul. On can realise this first when she tells that she has 

"birds in her head", It can be seen in Fig. 12a (4) in which a pair of eyes look at the birds 

reflected in the water. 

This subject will be summarized with Fig.12a(7), in which the artist draws a circular frame 

around a small bird in a thicket, and writes above it in Hebrew "The Soul's Bird" (the English 

equivalent is 'the apple of one's eye' ), which emphasises the dialogue with the soul, the 

search for the mental space (Matri 2005). 

33

Thus, handwriting has led the reader to the bird which, in turn, has led to a dialogue between 

different texts, in which it features as an image or a word. The Intertextual approach continues 

to expand the interpretation reading in multiple directions. 

7.6 Images with text pasted on 


Fig. 16: 1 Painting - Collage of Image and various texts – Finding from 


Fig. 16 contains all the categories that were mentioned. The interpretation discussion will start 

with the text pasted on the upper part of the image. This pasted-on text is distanced and 

isolated from the other texts that gather together on the lower part of the painting. It is as 

though an unknown visitor has invaded the formative, textual discussion. It sits in a prominent 

and separate place seeming to announce itself. This location demands double attention and, 

34

moreover, is connected associatively with the idiom 'written on his forehead' which leads to 

another – 'the mark of Cain'. 

Cain peeks out of the text and joins the gallery of allegorical figures in this work of art. What 

does the figure of Cain tells? The working hypothesis of the research says that the 

subconscious creative process knows itself (Reinhart, 2000) and that the text knows itself 

(Azulay, 2006). Even the word 'self' obviously knows more than us, it uses and commands us 

(Winnicott, 2002).the study adds that Perhaps the 'self ' does not know but it does own the 

tools needed to decode knowledge. Cain, exposed by the mark on his brow, is another 

messenger on the journey to the discovering the text, which is the quest for the discovery of 

self. 

The expression ‘mark of Cain' usually alludes to stigma, something despicable that cannot be 

hidden. In this painting perhaps it is something the mouth is trying to hide (since the mouth in 

the painting is covered). Its placement in the centre of the forehead represents the tension 

between exposure and hiding. The biblical commentators say the ‘mark of Cain' has a double 

meaning. It broadcasts his atrocious act but also serves to protect him. It says in the Bible that 

Cain will be a "wanderer", and the commentator explains that all his life Cain will suffer. The 

protective sign tells us about his evil deed but also about his repentance, which allowed him to 

be accorded protection (Rashi, Genesis 4). 

The mark of Cain here and the interpretations that presents correspond with Jung's (1989, 

1993) "shadow" (also in Robertson, 2004), a negative inner shadow existing in man. Part of 

mental development is to expose it, accept it and, with its help, resolve the war of opposites. 

The acknowledgement of the "shadow" of the 'self' is comparable to Cain's repentance, 

following which he was given a kind of reprieve. 

From Segen-Cohen's article, Cain, the wandering artist Jew (1991), the study learn that Cain 

also represents history’s first craftsman, a craftsman who did not yet know the secret of 

sublimation through art. 

Having discussed the significance of the pasted text’s location, the interpretation goes on and 

will move to its content. It says: "Yesterday at mid-day, a partial solar eclipse took place in 

Israel, while in other parts of the world a full eclipse occurred". The prior assumption that 

says that the text knows itself and that it has a subconscious challenges the interpretative 

process. It is about a solar eclipse, announced in a newspaper. At first glance one cannot 

understand what this announcement is doing here, in a book about a dying lake which later 

35

ecomes a work of art about self-portraits. the study indicates that this is the power of the 

Intertextuality analysis. First, the study finds a clear conceptual connection between the 

contents of the announcement, the medium which carried it and its location in this work of art. A 

newspaper's duty is to publish and a note on the forehead also symbolises something that has 

been widely published. 'A solar eclipse at mid-day' deals with something that has happened at 

a time of extreme exposure. The expression 'mid-day' reminds the reader of the common 

expression in Hebrew, 'clear as the sun at noon', of which the English equivalent is 'as clear as 

day' or 'as plain as the nose on your face'. 

A solar eclipse is an instance when the normal course of two forces of nature changes to 

create an anomalous occurrence. A struggle between two powers takes shape and light turns 

into shadow. The struggle between contrasts brings back to Cain fighting his brother Abel. In 

an eclipse the moon overshadows the sun. In symbolism, the moon is considered female, a 

symbol of a cyclic phenomenon, of renewal and impregnation (Fishman, 2008). 

Fig. 17 shows three findings with which the solar eclipse is intertwined as a leading motif and 

connector: 

Fig. 17: 3 Paintings - The Solar Eclipse Motif – Finding from 'Data Group' 

(A1 (a)) 

1 

2 

36 

3

Fig.17 (1) describes both graphically and illustratively the situation of a solar eclipse – half lit up 

and half in darkness. These serve as a metaphor of the ideational motif that runs throughout 

the work of art - half is exposed and half is hidden. In addition, the artist writes on the lit part 

"today there was a solar eclipse, so what, it’s just the sun…". The researcher wants to 

remind the reader that this finding has also appeared as an illustration of words that were like 

tears, and what was hidden for the lack of an eye is here considered to be the lit-up part. This 

finding alludes to the Finding of Fig.17 (2), as both use black and white paint to describe the 

phenomenon of light and darkness in a solar eclipse. At the same time this finding also emits 

the feeling of the corona and the ring of radiance a solar eclipse produces. 

In Fig.17 (3) the artist has pasted a large heading which says "Yesterday at mid-day". She 

repeats the sentence that appears in the small news item pasted onto the forehead. A time of 

maximal exposure. This heading is pasted on a page in which the artist cancels all the images 

by covering them with paint, leaving – and highlighting – two images, one of which is a crab 

which she also highlights with colour. So the question arises why is the crab highlighted and 

emphasized? And what is its connection to mid-day which was already seen is the time of peak 

exposure? The answer will be found in the next finding. 

Fig. 17(a): 1 Painting – A Crab – Finding from 'Data Group' (A1 (a)) 

37

Here too the artist uses greyish: neutral colours and blurs the traces of the photographed 

images. She only leaves the crab highlighted in red. Later she writes next to the crab "When 

he sheds his skin he is naked and vulnerable, but only thus can he grow…and later on it 

is eaten greedily and we can hear it screaming in the cooking pot " (AI (a): 54) The artist 

uses a natural phenomenon that describes the way a crab grows. Anderson (2002) describes 

this and explains that the crab" hides while its body is vulnerable and exposed, until it hardens 

again"(p.61) 

The research will continue to discuss the contents of the glued texts and their dialogue with the 

other texts and images that are in the same of the painting. 


38

The text that is glued in the centre of the portrait, on the forehead, deals with stellar bodies, as 

mentioned before. It tells of a struggle between the sun and the moon – a solar eclipse. This 

text is located on top as a metaphor of the location of the sky. The original text is situated at the 

bottom of the painting; there the artist marked sentences in which land (in Hebrew it also 

means earth, ground, soil) is mentioned 6 . “We knew of the idea to conquer the lake and 

turn it into land”: “Between its clods of dried earth”; this sentence, as mentioned before, is 

placed at the bottom – the location of the ground. The research pointed out again the dialogue 

between poles, land and sky, materialism and spirituality. 

But there are faults in both places. The subject at the top is a solar eclipse, and the sentence at 

the bottom tells of “dried earth” and “an idea to turn the lake into land”. Each of nature’s 

elements in itself represents a situation that is faulty, or that is flawed. 

Despite the contrast between sky and land, they join one another here and tell of their evil and 

bitter fate. Ancient civilisations indeed see a solar eclipse as an omen heralding evil, which 

foresees an imminent disaster or death. The origin of the name Eclipse is a lingual testimony to 

that; its original meaning in Greek is ‘abandonment’. These peoples believed that when a solar 

eclipse occurred, the sun abandoned the Earth and its inhabitants (Charles, 1966). The 

phenomenon of a lake turning into a swamp, and into land, is also a phenomenon of death. 

Animals dying, vegetation dying, and the balance and harmony of nature are harmed. 

6 For proper disclosure - This act was done before the act of gluing, in other, earlier stages (taken from 

the work journals). 

39

According to ancient beliefs, a lunar eclipse is an omen heralding evil, like “mark of Cain” and 

“the clods of its dried earth”. 

Chapter 5 dealt with the book’s cover (in the para -textual analysis) and described the 

symbolism of the earth as including opposites. Fertility, containment and nourishment next to 

the perishing materiality (Fishman 2008). On the one hand the symbol of fertility, reception and 

nourishment and on the other hand the material, perishing element “for dust thou art, and unto 

dust shalt thou return” (Genesis 3, 19). A dialogue takes place here between sky and earth: 

once again it is a dialogue between poles, which also includes hints of difficult situations. In 

astrology a solar eclipse is regarded as a symbol of a fierce struggle between powers and 

contradicting energies (Schonfeld, 1999). 

The connection to astrology also exists in the internal exchange of the text itself. Finding from 

Data Group (A1 (a)): Fig. 14 is a glued text taken from a newspaper and dealing with an 

astrological map and a horoscope. 

Fig. 14: 2 Painting – Finding from Data Group (A1 (a)) 

A text describing one sign from the zodiac – Scorpio, Taurus, is glued on each of the pages. 

40

Fig. 14: 2 Detail – Finding from Data Group (A1 (a)) 

These two signs also carry on a hidden dialogue between water and earth. According to 

astrology Scorpio belongs to the water element and Taurus belongs to the earth element 

(Goldberg, 2005). This is an echoing of the dialogue of the lake whose water has dried up. 

The astrological signs, which the artist has chosen to place next to the images of her portrait, 

show that these are also the sign and horizon that belong to her date of birth. This connection 

brings together, and strengthens, the story of the portrait and the story of the lake. It is possible 

that one can learn from this that just as there is a fight for survival here, between water and 

earth, so do these two forces act within her, as part of an inner struggle. In this way the artist 

implies that her private story has crept into the big story of the lake, water, land and sky 7 . 

7 For the purpose of full disclosure it is to be noted that this is a detail that cannot be discovered in the 

text itself without knowing the artist personally. 

41

Appendix 3 


PART IIB 

VISUAL VALUES 

Chapter 8: 

COLOUR 

8.1.3 The Expressionist use of Black and White 

Black and white paintings show the influence on the artist of the Expressionist school, whose 

artists’ main interest is preoccupation with the self and one’s inner world (Whiteford, 1987): "Art 

that develops from subjective feelings, not from objective observations" (Bowness, 1985: 87). 

Rupture, pain, despair and anxiety, and the wish to break norms and create new rules, are all 

typical of Expressionism. The Expressionist artist holds on to the material because he can no 

longer hold on to the world that has disappointed him (Avramson, 1996). Thus, Expressionist 

artists from the Die Brucke group, 1905-1913 (Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Erich Heckel, Karl 

Schnidt-Rottluff), developed the technique of wood cuts and prints to represent sharp and 

extreme shifts between white and black (Peiper, 1983) and their influence on the artist shows in 

the findings presented here (Fig. 22). 

These artists’ work came out of pain. They were aware of the connection between art and soul 

and their attitude to art developed at a time and place when Freud was publishing his theories 

about the subconscious (West, 2004). Their art tells the story of the soul. 

8.1.4 Symbolic Meanings 

In symbolism, the colour black is considered 'bad'. It expresses difficult situations, creates a 

heavy atmosphere, and represents death, darkness, night, terror and destruction (Kreitler, 

1980). It denotes chaos, everything falling apart, truncated and temporary time (Ben- 

45

Mordechai, 1994). It swallows, rules, dominates and negates every other colour and 

symbolises the boundary beyond which life ceases to exist (Lusher, 1986). 

The symbolic meanings of black reinforce the story and photos of the Dying Lake and 

correspond to the meanings generated by the Expressionist and Dadaist art movements 

mentioned in Chapter 3, 5 and 6.. But black does not appear on its own, in this study it appears 

with white, a combination symbolising the encounter between opposing forces ―good and bad, 

light and darkness. And together black and white create a whole, a symbol of continuity. Black 

invites white and vice versa – like day and night, a continuity that creates the 24-hour day (Ben- 

Mordechai, 1994). 

Black represents chaos; white represents growth and renewal (Ben-Mordechai, 1994). When, 

after a struggle, light breaks through blackness, it is like the sun rising from the darkness of the 

night (Netzer, 2004). The encounter between contrasts creates a struggle which is the ground 

for growth and renewal. Working in black and white, the artist writes in her diary two poems (A2 

(a) – 20.2.04): 

SEE MYSELF IN BLACK AND WHITE/ Nurit Cederboim 1 

See myself in black and white. 

It doesn’t seem to me so very purposeless, 

It’s the two extremes of time. 

Of beginning and light, 

And hope and purity, 

But black is also a hole. 

To see the painting 

All black 

With a face that lights up in white 

It is also, like the flickering light 

At the end of the tunnel, 

Or illumination 

Of what will happen and what has happened. 

I see a face like a skeleton or spirit, 

1 In Hebrew this text is written poetically, with rhymes. 

46

But maybe a lot of power is hiding there 

Deep eyes with such a look 

And all these wrinkles from the nose and also from the mouth 

Cascading like waterfalls. 

I see a sort of an emaciated face 

Something really ascetic 

And I rather like the picture 

Like that, as it is. 

I know I can fall into the trap 

Of over done 

And to continue to lick it 

From here and from there 

And to continue to work it so that it will be perfect 

And that will be a pity 

Because I like it as it is, too. 

(A2(a) - 20.2.04) 

BLACK AND WHITE AND ALL THAT’S IN BETWEEN/ Nurit Cederboim 

Black and white and all that’s in between 

It’s actually the time that’s between times, 

And the space between the lines. 

It’s the part that is not always seen 

But it has presence. 

It’s actually the twilight zone 

It’s substantially, the substance of the matter 

When talking about the black and the white. 

The black and the white and all that’s in between 

Actually it’s grey. 

Light grey or dark grey 

Actually what does it matter. 

Grey is grey, 

It’s not frost, 

And not heat 

Nothing 

47

Grey is grey. 

Now when I am practicing the portrait 

On the white paper, 

I am turning myself into a woman of edges 

Who knows she has to walk on tiptoe. 

And doesn’t always have to placate 

Nor to want 

Because life is not only black and white 

It also has a lot of grey in the middle, 

And grey in its profusion of shades 

One can make a symphony on the sheet. (A2 (a) – 20.2.04) 

The choice of black and white also directs and constrains the artist in her work. It reduces her 

options and so creates additional contrast and conflict: "Every time I want to burst forth on 

the paper and do something spontaneous and different, I restrain myself, stop myself 

[…] I have had a thousand temptations. At almost any minute I am tempted to add colour 

– no!" (A2 (a) – 20.2.04). "I could die for more colour, red and ochre but in the end I stay 

with black and white" (A2 (a) – 11.8.04). The choice of black and white signifies asceticism, 

restraint. 

8.1.5 Light and Shade 

'Light and shade' in art has a dual significance. First, it informs us about the artists’ personal 

temperament, their approaches and the attitude of the culture in which they create (Peiper, 

1983). "I started my dramatic play of light and shade in white and black charcoal. That 

expressiveness I remember from long ago" (A2 (a) – 7.4.03). Second, light and shade are a 

means to create volume and illusion, as well as tonality, that poetry of shades (Peiper, 1983). "I 

see more depth, more lights. Suddenly everything is so clear and obvious, easy to carry 

out" (A2 (a) 8.8.04). 

The restraint that results from working without colour hones the artist’s observation: "For some 

reason I can see my face better, notice things I never saw before. There is more to see 

[…]every two sq. cm. of skin a change takes place, something interesting happens" (A2 

(a) – 11.8.04). "I continue to draw – it is unbelievable what I have not seen till now […] 

48

suddenly, I understand that these are not only spots on the surface of the face. This is 

flesh. These are indentations and protrusions and there is gradation from white to black 

across these 'potholes in the road'" (A2 (a) – 8.8.04). 

The colours black and white represent the restraint and discipline the artist imposes on herself 

and her use of light and shade. She learns to draw: she studies her face, "…still bound to 

facial features, light and shade, volume etc. As yet I cannot give this up. I practice my 

technique, work and study" (A2 (a) – 10.2.04). "I learned more and more about the face 

and the skull as I follow light and shade, lines and wrinkles, volume and proportions" 

(A2 (a) – 13.4.04). "I pay attention to the page, myself, what I see, and work […] I try not 

to push my personality to the forefront, I try to get on with the painting and see 

afterwards what happens to my personality" (A2 (a) – 13.4.04). The investigation of the 

physical face is a metaphor for the investigation of the self. 

The investigative process entails a struggle between accurate drawing and painting in colour 

freely: "The two are mixed up in me. The first has discovered the world of drawing and 

wants to draw the way it should be done. How to draw a figure, a portrait, make it show 

volume, where a nose is a nose, eyes – eyes, a jaw ― a jaw. The proportions must be 

right, and the likeness too. The second approach is creative, expressive, unrestrained, 

with energies that allow one to do everything. This was the struggle I engaged in ― 

between Drawing well and correctly and, on the other hand, a kind of freedom to do 

anything" (A2 (a) – 5.1.04). 

8.1.6 Mental Aspects 

Black and White represents what Jung (1989, 1993) termed polarities. Drawing on Chinese 

theories, he claimed that paradoxes were an integral part of everything that lives and moves, 

that any extremism caused a change of direction and a search for the opposite state. At each 

of the poles is the kernel of the other, while together they create the dynamics between active 

and passive. When one grows, so does the other. 

Jung considered black and white to be two states of consciousness. White represents a clear 

and exposed consciousness, whereas black represents the world of the subconscious, dark 

and hidden. The encounter between black and white, between the two kinds of consciousness, 

is the necessary encounter between opposites from which full growth develops – mental 

development and self-fulfilment. Jung (1989) also gave a psychological significance to the 

49

concept of 'shade'. According to him the psychological shadow holds the hidden parts of the 

personality waiting to be discovered (Robertson, 2004). Jung (1989) claimed that the living 

organism needed shade in order to be three-dimensional. Without shade it remained a shallow 

ghost. The search for light and shade become a metaphor for the search for the self, in which 

shade is part of light, part of the portrait and the personality. The shade applied to a portrait as 

a means of giving it volume is the shade in the personality that must be discovered. It is the 

shade mentioned in Chapter 6 as a metaphor for the 'Mark of Cain'. 

Black and white also symbolise the death of an earlier life and the birth of new one (Goldberg, 

2005). This cycle is also described by Pinkola-Este's (a Jungian psychoanalyst) as "The Life / 

Death / Life” cycle (1997); "Life / Death / Life forces are part of our own nature, part of an inner 

authority that knows the step, knows the dance of life and death. It is composed of the aspects 

of ourselves which know when something can and should and must be born, and when it must 

die. It is a deep teacher if we can only learn its tempo" (p.133). This wondrous instinct enables 

us to survive any situation of abundance or adversity and still preserve the relationship with the 

self and the other. Its metaphor here is the lake. Growth is, as it were, an alchemical process, 

in which pure gold emerges from a primary, murky substance (Netzer, 2004). Light emerges 

from the dark, symbolising the sun released from the dark to give light. 

Schoenewolf (2006) considers the use of black and white to indicate a mental depression 

which suppresses colour: "When artists suppress their feelings, their use of colour becomes 

limited and deformed – for colours are the visual representatives of emotions. The suppression 

occurs subconsciously, without the artist's awareness or knowledge. Outwardly the painters 

appear to be aware of the fact that they do not like to work in colour, and sometimes they 

rationalize that colour is not necessary and, perhaps, even less artistic" (p. 22). "Usually the 

barrier that denies the use of colour is connected to depression. In depression all emotions – 

anger, fear, sadness, joy – are repressed and restrained […] emotions are frozen and 

exchanged by intellectual recognition into other emotions,[…]. This repression is accompanied 

by low self-esteem, a pessimistic outlook and lack of confidence that blocks the brain and lead 

to feeling a lack of coordination as well as worthlessness. One of the first things that follow this 

is the lack of confidence in the use of colour" (Schoenewolf, 2006: 22). Writes the artist in her 

diary: "Creativity and ideas seem to me easiest. Skill seems to me more complicated […] 

first of all because it demands discipline, restraint, moderation. Later will come the 

stage of feasting. I don’t know when, but at the moment it does not matter" (A2 (a) – 

20.2.04). 

50

The artist has discussed the issue of depression in connection with Sarah's Tent (Chapter 5). 

That work was followed by doubts and lack of confidence. Her journals describe a state similar 

to that described by Schoenewolf. Those expressions reveal with certainly lack of self esteem 

or appreciation of her abilities – "I may not be an artist, perhaps I never was…I have 

nothing to paint and I don’t want to paint and I do not know whether I have done it well" 

(A2 (a) -25.1.04). "The problem is that I am still trying to prove to myself, and perhaps to 

the world, that I know how to paint. In my own eyes I am not a painter and never have 

been[…]Funny, I say I am a painter, but when I look at myself in the mirror, I do not 

believe it. Rembrandt was a painter, so was Van Gogh – not me" (A2 (a) – 15.2.04). "I felt 

I had no pleasure, felt like nothing[ ...]I think I was depressed there. In any case it seems 

that I suffer from a hidden depression… and I was having depressing thoughts. I also 

cried a lot. My tears were pouring down and I thought that was good. Have I become a 

different Nurit?" (A2 (b) – 24.1.04). 

One can sum up this by saying that in artwork in black and white the black is as said by 

Kandinsky "like an eternal silence, futureless, hopeless" and " like silence that has a final 

ending" (quoted in Balas, 1996: 204) whereas the white "its silence has many possibilities, a 

kind of nothingness that abounds in youth, a nothingness before the beginning, before birth" 

(ibid.). 


When the artist was focussed on black and white painting her intent was "to draw correctly" 

(A2 (a)). The transition to painting in colour emphasises her interest in form and colour, typical 

of modern painting (Ballas, 1996). Van Gogh (1853-1890) started painting at a relatively late 

age and for three years did not dare touch colour. But all his efforts to reach proficiency in 

drawing had one goal – to prepare himself to work with colour. In a letter to his brother he 

writes: "…and if you do not learn to develop a feeling for them [colours] how far you are from 

real life?" (Van Gogh, 1992: 54). To use colour is to show emotion and self-expression ― one 

more influence of Expressionism on the artist. 

When the artist worked in black and white, she had to represent reality and, as she had 

decided to work in a book of photographs and had chosen the technique of drawing, she tried 

to copy the reality she saw in the mirror. The transition to colour has released her from 

obligations to nature and reality, because the use of colour signals the painter’s subjective 

51

attitude to the world around him (Ballas, 2002). In the spirit of Expressionism, the artist looked 

into the mirror and painted the truth of her inner reality. As Matisse said about four different 

self-portraits: "Precision is not truth" (quoted in Ballas, 1996: 83). Everyone has his own private 

truth. Artist’s diary: "I have returned to painting, put a brush on the palette and started to 

damage, and from that moment on I continued, non-stop, to damage. I don’t care 

anymore, once I start, I do whatever occurs to me […] I must let go of the judge in me, of 

the ambition to paint a good picture[…] not struggle with whether I am satisfied with the 

painting or not (A2 (a) – 15.2.04). "A time will come when I will again want to examine 

and look at my face realistically, improve my expertise and try to paint like a 

photograph, now I want to attack the canvas and work spontaneously" (A2 (a) – 9.2.04). 

The Expressionist artist Emil Nolde (1867-1956) writes in his memoirs: "With light brush strokes 

I outlined thirteen images on the canvas […] I was pursued by an irresistible urge – to express 

a deep spiritual emotion and a feeling of burning religiosity, but I did it without any 

consideration, knowledge, thoughts or observation. And so I continued to paint more and 

more… I hardly knew whether it was day or night, whether I was painting or praying… I had to 

feel completely free artistically, God appeared to me as a God inside me…These pictures 

symbolise the transitory stage in my artistic development, from depending on exterior, visual 

compulsion to relying on interior values which I experienced in my soul" (Peiper, 1983: 132). 

The Expressionist approach to the symbolism of colour permits extreme expression ― vigorous 

brush strokes, side by side with scribbles, strong contrasts, deformation of shapes, and heavy 

textures. The Expressionist artist wishes to express his inner, stormy world with colour, rejects 

the polished academic style and at the same time feels he has a mission to create change 

(Peiper, 1983). 


Like the contrasts and dualism the study presented before so blue possesses positive and 

negative attributes. On the negative side, it emits depression, fatigue and tension (Wills, 2000), 

restraint, keeping distance, hostility, together with a longing for something hard to get (Kreitler, 

1980) and endless yearning (Kandinsky, 1984). It signals lack of involvement and self-pity 

(Goldberg, 2005). These emotions appear in the artist's journals: "and I sat, empty, 

disappointed and sad" (A2 (a) – 6.4.04). "In any case I am tired of everything, life, myself, 

excitements, everything […]" (A2 (a) – 13.2.04). "It makes me feel detached from 

52

everything. Nothing interests me […] I erect walls, produce repression mechanisms and 

feel imprisoned in myself, it makes me feel apathetic and turned off, unsatisfied and 

unhappy. Meanwhile I cut myself off"[…] (A2 (a) – 20.4.04). "I suspect that I am alienated, 

cut off, perhaps egoistic, not devoted enough, not giving from myself or of myself" (A2 

(b)- 19.5.04). “There is a deep chasm between me and life. I feel as if I have exhausted all 

my energies" (A2 (a) – 13.6.04). 

The blue paintings and the melancholic mood allude, associatively, to Picasso's Blue Period 

(1901-04), Picasso's hard times, when he lost a close friend to suicide. The figures of his Blue 

Period are lost, despairing figures from the margins of society (beggars, grieving mothers, the 

blind and others). Blue was also associated with 'Fin de Siecle' decadence. Symbolist painters 

found interest in marginal figures and used blue and greenish tones to create symbolic, 

emotional qualities. In the same manner, Cezanne, who was considered to be an angry, hard, 

sad and lonely man, often used blue. "Blue in his paintings has a special role: he starts the 

painting and ends it with blue, and this is true of all the stages of his work […]. For Cezanne, 

blue is at one and the same time a unifying as well as an abstract and expressive element" 

(Ballas, 1996: 74). 

According to Far Eastern doctrines, blue represents the Throat Chakra, which bridges between 

the physical and spiritual worlds. An attraction to blue demands that we define the way we 

understand spirituality. It makes us question whether we are moving in a spiritual way that is 

right for us (Wills, 2000). The role of the Chakra is to purify and the duality in blue points out the 

road to that purification, pain of longing, suffering, which finally lead to spiritual calm and peace. 

In symbolism, blue signifies water and sky (Goldberg, 2005). The sky represents the search for 

a higher, spiritual universe, and water represents search for inner depths (Ben-Mordechai, 

1994). This is the water with female elements that describe women's creativity "the river below 

the river" (Pinkola- Este's, 1997). "On a spiritual level, dark blue expresses the need to find the 

inner space in man in which lie ultimate calm, truth and security. This space is what gives us 

inner wholeness and the ability to feel at home in any place or state" (Wills, 2000: 65). The 

dominance of blue in a painting indicates that this search has been successful to some degree. 

As the artist writes: "and indeed there are moments of calm, I have started to feel some 

relaxation, serenity and acceptance" (A2 (b) -8.1.04). "These days… I have been very 

calm, peaceful, relaxed, concentrated, satisfied" (A2 (b) -9.2.04). 

53

Fig. 32: 1 Painting – Blue – the Socio-Metric Structure – Finding from 

'Data Group' (D1) 

Findings from 'Data Group' (D1) extend the meanings of blue in this study. In the context of a 

psycho-dramatic exercise, the artist had to construct a socio-metric structure and later was 

asked to tell a story about it (see Fig. 32). In her story, she describes the blue figure as that of 

an Indian chief who early in the morning is yellow like the sun but towards evening reaches a 

place where earth and sky meet, and he turns blue: "He was a very determined and strong 

man, everyone leant on him and he radiated a lot of warmth, confidence and wisdom, 

even though he was reticent and no one really knew what went on inside him, […] When 

54

he came near the sun and the water he suddenly became transparent. And when he 

became transparent he could look inside his body, into his soul, and only those who 

knew him well could look at his face, which was actually like the palm of his hand on 

which the whole story was written. His eyes already knew how to look inwards and 

outwards, but the lips were closed. Standing near flowing water gave him a feeling of 

cleanliness but it also made him feel that he was becoming transparent like water, and 

everything in him flowed until he himself became very spiritual like some magician" (C2 

(a):12,9). 

Psycho-drama releases subconscious 'baggage' ( see Appendix 1) and this response of the 

artist to Fig. 32 confirms the basic assumptions of the intertextual approach, which states that 

texts have a subconscious (Azulay, 2006). Fig. 30(1) shows a painting in opaque, layered, dark 

blue colours. The artist was asked to give it a name and after some consideration decided on 

Despite the Hair, All Can be Heard (C2 (a): 8, 16). She continues: "It looks like the face of an 

animal… the hair is long, but also as though the hands cover the ears […] She looks old, 

wise and old like La Luba (from Pinkola-Este's Women Who Run with Wolves, 1997) She 

looks to me like an animal, a leopard or cat […] like a ghost […]. In this work, I think, 

there is also something spiritual, mystical. What is her message to the world? […] Is she 

the blue Babayaga that jumped from the flames into the lake?" (C2 (a): 8, 16). 

The title given the painting, Despite the Hair All Can be Heard, takes the reader back to the 

motif of synaesthenia, hearing by seeing. There is a special hearing channel that sends 

messages directly to the soul (Pinkola – Este's 1997). So the blue indicates that this is a most 

profound matter of the soul, since blue itself is "radiance of the spirit and sparkle of the soul" 

(Steiner, 1998: 35). 

The blue paintings, mostly painted in the technique of aquarelle, are placed on the lake, echo it 

like the mirror in Narcissus's story, and make it possible to delve into the deeps of the water to 

discover and hear the voice of the soul (see further Chapter 8, Section 8.4, Aquarelle). 

55

8.5 Dominant Colour – Red 

8.5.2 Meaning and Symbolism 

It continuously moves between the findings, connects, enriches the significance of the text 

while removing one stratum after another, as in an archaeological dig. 

The study will follow the colour red and investigate how these characteristics are expressed in 

the text. 

The paintings in Fig. 34 contain the images of lips and flowers and the words Pe-Rach (in 

Hebrew – 'soft mouth') and Perach (in Hebrew – 'flower’). 

Fig. 34: 2 Paintings - Lips and Flowers -Findings from 'Data Group' (A1 (a)) 

56

Lips are sensual organs that transmit sexuality and eroticism, and so do a flower's petals 

(Freud, 1988). This is especially obvious in the works of O'Keefe (for instance in Black Iris II, 

1927, and Fig. 35) where large flowers painted close-up generate erotic associations. Enlarging 

the flower and taking it out of its natural context turns recall the female genitalia (Bartal, 2006). 

Fig. 35: Photograph of Black Iris II, 1927 

Fig. 36: 1 Painting - Lips and Sofa – Findings from 'Data Group' (A1 (a)) 

57

The findings in Fig. 36 show a portrait on the left, and on the right, on the background of the 

original photograph, a newspaper paragraph is pasted containing picture and text. The necks of 

two flamingos remain from the original photograph to surround the cutting. The text explains 

the pasted-on photograph as follows: "A red sofa made in the shape of the film star Mae West's 

lips, created by Salvador Dali - one of the most famous surrealist creations – now on show at 

the Mass Culture exhibition in Barcelona, on the occasion of the one hundredth birthday of the 

artist, a native of Catalonia". 

The sofa/lips add sexual clues. The Hollywood actress Mae West symbolises sexuality, 

femininity and fertility. When the artist decided to cover the original photograph of the book with 

another photograph pasted on it, she chose to leave the two pink flamingos as a frame for the 

'red lips'. The flamingos are engaged in a courting dance, a dance that also heralds 

reproduction and sexuality. 

Red is also attributed to the Base Chakra, Root which holds on to our instincts in order to 

survive, begs us to observe our physical and earthly existence, and helps us keep our feet on 

the ground. This chakra challenges man to examine and strengthen his origins and roots, as 

part of his authentic existence "by giving up characteristics and situations which are no longer 

relevant" (Wills, 2000: 36). It goes back to the essence of the 'Book Object'― its investigation 

of the self and a turning back to one’s roots. 

Fig. 37 illustrates the connection between red and deep-seated, authentic origins. On one side 

there is an original photograph of a root. The artist isolates it from the rest of the photograph, 

outlines it and covers the rest of the photograph with red paint. On one side she writes with a 

paint brush "people, trees, stones", and in small letters adds "To move a mountain first 

start with little stones". 

Fig. 37: 1 Painting - Red and roots - Finding from 'Data Group' (A1 (a)) 

58

In her journal the artist writes: "…and on the other side of the page there is a photograph 

of a black root, looking like a monster or a man dancing. There is a root, there are 

photographs of stones, there is a sea in the background and suddenly I understand and 

I am shocked – how is it possible that I did not see it before? How did I not notice? All I 

love, all I am interested in and have been preoccupied with in art, all this is on that page, 

and especially today. This is more than coincidence. In the past I took pictures of roots, 

roots in all kinds of shapes, I photographed and painted them. One of the outstanding 

ones is very similar to the one photographed here. I love stones, paint on them, collect 

them, design with them, take pictures of them and I even had an exhibition dealing with 

stone" (A2 (a) – 31.8.04). 

Red shows as a dominant colour in most other data groups too. 

Red typifies the urge and desire to win and to take on vigorous activities, struggles, 

competitions and will power (Lüsher, 1986). Kandinsky (2002) describes it as "having male 

59

maturity" (Ballas, 2002: 41) and as "representative of the principle of the active male" 

(Goldberg, 2005: 641). Fig. 39 reinforces these definitions. 

Fig 39: 1 Painting - Red Head – Finding from 'Data Group' (B1 (b)) 

Describing this self-portrait in the context of psycho-drama, the artist pointed out that in this 

painting, and others, she resembled a man, and explained: "They are part of me: there are 

women in whom the male side is stronger. In some periods of my life they were 

dominant and they must be there. As a woman I do not wish it to be a dominant part, but 

it is good that it is there, protecting me " (C2 (a), 11:5). Another time she calls this work 

"Fire, Fire" (C2 (a), 13: 1). As a colour that represents masculinity, fighting power and the urge 

to succeed, red also represents "the fighting spirit of the fearless warrior" (Ben-Mordechai, 

1994: 58). 

Fig. 40: 1 Painting - Red-Hair - Finding from 'Data Group' (B1 (b)) 

60

Fig. 40 combines two strong symbols– red and hair. In certain cultures hair represents 

sexuality, as in Judaism where "A woman's hair is shameful". The artist entitled this work 

Goddess of the Hunt and so another mythological figure is added to the gallery ― Artemis in 

Greek mythology and Diana in the Roman. About this painting the artist writes: "It is 

interesting that I am a redhead today...a burning hot, red woman with half a breast 

peeking out" (A2 (a) – 2.3.04). The red colour is both seen and heard, "red woman", 

"redhead", the fighting power in Goddess of the Hunt, and also the erotic charge of "half a 

breast peeking out". The breast may represent femininity and eroticism and the nurturing 

mother but one breast alone recalls the single breast that was the symbol of the Amazons, 

fighting women, who cut off one of their breasts so that it would not interfere with their archery 

(Fishman, 2008). 

This work engendered a whole series of others (Fig. 41), all displayed in Sarah’s Tent (Chapter 

5). 

61

Fig. 41: 6 Paintings - Goddess of the Hunt and other - Red dominant – 

Findings from 'Data Group' (C1) 

The artist gives names like 'Goddess of the Hunt', 'Swordswoman', 'Athena attacks again', 'The 

Big Bang', 'Queen', and' Sphinx Woman' to these paintings, all of them displaying red hair. 

Shinona-Bolen (2002), in her book Goddesses in Everywoman, explains that Artemis and 

62

Athena `represent "independence and self-sufficiency in women […] they represent women 

who are target-oriented, and their logical thinking makes them archetypes of achievement- 

orientation" (p. 35). They represent the "inner drives of women to develop their talents, to 

occupy themselves with their own interests, to solve problems, compete with others, express 

themselves in words and thought and lead a thoughtful, observing life" (p. 55). The study sees 

those metaphoric names as a kind of declaration of the artist about herself. 



Yellow, too, has two faces. On the positive side it excels in the highest possible purity and is 

pleasant and joyful. But when dirty it tends towards the negative side: "The colour of nobility 

becomes the colour of disgrace, nausea and discomfort" (Goethe quoted in Ballas, 1996: 147). 

Yellow signals a search for a way out of difficulties and depression (Lüsher, 1986). With the 

help of yellow we become more tuned to our self, to the sparkle of the spirit (Steiner, 1998). In 

Fig. 42 (2, 3), for example, the artist cancels and erases the photograph and spreads a thick 

layer of yellow paint: "I took yellow and with wide brush strokes spread yellow on the 

pages" (A2 (a) – 7.4.03). On this layer she pastes a text in large letters, "Radiance, Emotion, 

and Spirituality". 

Yellow’s mental aspect indicates tension and mental fatigue caused by preoccupation with 

unsolved problems (Wills, 2000). On the other hand it is the colour of intellectuals, scientists 

and great artists. Yellow symbolises "intellect, wisdom, organisational abilities and discipline" 

(Goldberg, 2005: 651). What the colour tells us about the state of mind of the artist is, on the 

one hand, tension and mental burdens and, on the other hand, a tireless drive to research, to 

pursue 'the 'chain of observations''. 

The artist describes in her journals how this colour overpowers her: "Now another layer and 

the whole painting in yellow […] over everything, over the black outlines, over the hair, 

over everything […] the painting will be a yellow painting" (A2 (a) – 23.2.04). 

“I have finished the black/white work – a mixed technique of acrylic and charcoal. I 

delimited it in a yellow frame line” (A2 (a) – 23/2/04) and then I burst out upon the next 

page. 

63

I started with yellow. At the place where I stopped the previous work – yellow, there I 

started [....] actually, it’s more correct, I started sketching in charcoal. In quick and loose 

lines.... then yellow and charcoal, two components from the previous work” (A2 (a) – 

23.2.04). I stormed the sheet, freely; with wide yellow paintbrush strokes [....] I went over 

the whole sketch with a rich yellow colour, straight from the tube. The traces of charcoal 

remained. What has to remain, remains. 

The red and the blue were left orphaned, I have no intention of using them [....] and 

instead of the red and blue, a colour I didn’t choose – black took their place, got into the 

picture, as the saying goes. Interesting like the previous work – but there the yellow 

gave an implied finale and here it is reigning supreme, turned out to be the leading 

actor. And then I started using wide brushstrokes, to go over the yellow all over the face, 

without going into the details. Black – instead of the crown of hair and the rest white [....] 

now another layer and the painting is all in yellow, a turning point. On everything on the 

black contour lines, on the hair on everything. There is no longer a division “according 

to subjects” the painting will be a yellow painting, the other colours will be supporting 

actors” (ibid.). 

And she continues to describe the work process in finding (BI (b)) in her journals 

“I already told myself some time ago (perhaps two years ago) that one day I will take the 

yellow roll [....] made from soft material, cloth – what they call disposable tablecloths. 

...My eyes happened upon the yellow roll [....] maybe my inner part planned and waited 

for an opportune moment [....] 

The artist describes Fig. 43 (1) in her journals: "The image looks wild to me, Indian, 

determined, perhaps a little angry" (A2 (a) – 23.3.04) and in another place: "but I really do 

not see anger, I see something that is facing forwards, determined, there is 

determination here, strong, responsible, suffused with calm" (C2 (a), 5: 13). The choice of 

yellow alludes to a conflict one must get rid of, gallop forwards out of, towards the new (Lüsher, 

1986). In yellow there is harmony, joy, faith and purity, as well as stubbornness, criticism and 

scepticism. 

Fig. 43 (2) is a portrait in black on a yellow background. The description of the work (see 

Appendix 10) tells of a struggle between materials. A painting in watercolours on a yellow 

blotting paper tablecloth – the watercolour is not absorbed and the artist seeks a way to carry 

64

this work through. The yellow expresses this struggle, its wish to be set free from limiting 

situations, and push towards all that is new and developing (Lüsher, 1986). At the same time it 

expresses impatience (ibid.) and the artist writes: "Somehow I reached the understanding 

today that in colour I have no patience for details. Colour makes me burst out, it means 

freedom, perhaps aggression, a certain lack of focus […] colour makes me 

absentminded. In colour, I have no patience to be delayed by small details" (A2 (a) - 

2.6.04). 

In most of the findings we see that even though yellow is dominant, it clashes with black. In 

nature black and yellow appear together on bodies of animals as a warning (Fishman, 2008). 

On Fig. 42(7) the artist writes "Cowards". The dark yellow symbolises the yellow scorpion, and 

the meaning is negative ― jealousy and ambition, as well as secrecy and lack of loyalty (ibid.). 

So one can see that, with its duality, yellow also exposes what called 'the mark of Cain' 

elsewhere. 

In these paintings and other images yellow points to someone concerned with an investigative, 

intellectual process, an investigation of the self, for yellow "is attached to the braids of the sun 

which in turn is attached to personality, selfhood and ego" (Fishman, 2008: 175). This is also 

apparent in finding Fig. 42(4) where the face is yellow and above it is the word, written in 

yellow, "IMAGE". 



Fig. 46 depicts both visually and verbally the complementarity of this colour pairing. A scrap of 

newspaper with a green background is pasted on a painting in blue. On the scrap of newspaper 

is written "Complementing you naturally", with the word "Complementing" in red. 

Fig. 46: 1 Painting - Complementarity - Red and Green –– Finding from 


65

The book which is the basis of the 'Book Object' is in black and white, but its text describes the 

lake as "a green swamp to which red – black – white blobs have been added" (p. 81). Green is 

a "static colour, it has no accompanying tone – neither joy, nor sadness or excitement, and that 

is why it radiates peace, but in a short while it becomes boring" (Kandinsky, in Ballas, 2002: 

41). That is why its combination and integration with the lively, restless, powerful and moving 

red makes the two of them complementary. They create a unity of contrasts. Born out of the 

major contrast of yellow and blue these complementary colours, when adjacent, mutually 

enhance one another (Kandinsky, 1984). Van Gogh painted a night café in greens and reds. 

The discussion about the complementary colours red and green causes the researcher to deal 

with ‘the red leaf’ image. This image first appears as a name for several works, and it also 

appears, in the shape of a leaf, as a motif that repeats itself. The word combination red leaf is 

actually a dialogue between complementary colours – red and green. Henceforth the research 

will examine the image and trace it according to the different findings. The tracking will be done 

through words, images and colours. 

The leaf motif first appears in datum (A1 (a)): Fig. 36. It is a green leaf conducting a dialogue 

with an image of red coloured lips. It is an echo to an earlier and different meeting (gently 

persuasive and flower – pe – rach and perach ). 

66

. 

Fig. 36: 1 Detail - Finding from - (A1 (a)) 

The leaf image here is only an inkling of the things to come, because it appears only once in 

datum (A1 (a)). After that it continues to appear in other Data Groups. In the spirit of intertextual 

the research will track it, being similar to Intertextual process of the bird image. 

(a)The leaf motif appears in the Data Group AIb 

Finding from 'Data Group' (B1 (b)): 1 – The work is named ‘A Green Leaf on the Forehead’. 

Here the image of the leaf, coloured green, placed on a portrait in green. The leaf wanders 

from there to finding 2, to a work named ‘Red Leaf on the Forehead’. The leaf changes from 

green to red, the colour of the hair is also red, the location remains on the forehead and the 

rest of the portrait is green. In finding 3 – the leaf is on a red colour, one colourless leaf, but its 

definition as a leaf has a connotation of the green colour. In finding 4 the painting is named 

‘Mask’, and the black leaf is placed on a red card. The dialogue is always between red and 

green, even when the green is hinted at from the name of the work or from within the image 

itself. Finding 5 – the leaf multiplies in a work named ‘Red Talisman’ – the central leaf 

appearing in the middle of the forehead is red. In other words, here it is a leaf (green) that is 

coloured red. Red leaves continue to appear on both sides as an echo and as a decorative 

string of leaves. 

Fig. 48: 5 Paintings – The Leaf - Finding from :Data Group: (B1 (b)) 

67

3 

1 

4 

68 

2

5 

The dialogue sharpens and now the green leaf, that started its path in a hinted fashion in the 

‘Book – Object' continues to appear and the red colour becomes permanent on it. 

Following is another group of findings from 'Data Group' (C1) 

Fig. 49: 9 Paintings – Leaf's variations - Findings from 'Data Group' (C1) 

69

6 

8 

10 

70 

7 

9

13 

12 

1 

71 

14

The leaf’s variations expand. Finding 6 – the painting is named ‘Narcissus Finds out the Truth’. 

Finding 7 – the painting is named ‘Open Cards’. In these findings the red leaf motif repeats 

itself and creates a composition together with an image of green palm fronds. The meeting, of 

the leaves with the red green colours that are processed in the shape of a pattern, repeats 

itself. In between them the portrait pokes out and allows the dialogue between the 

complementary colours to have its say. Finding 8 – the painting is named ‘Alei – daf – na' (in 

Hebrew it has two meanings – bay leaves and moving pages/leaves). Once again there is a 

dialogue between red and green leaves, and red lips that look like leaves. Finding 9 – the 

painting is named ‘Leaf on Red’. The motif of the lone colourless leaf placed on a red 

background repeats itself. But its appearance as a leaf involves the green colour attributed to it. 

Finding 10 – the painting is names ‘Chief’. A string of red leaves and one leaf as a stamp, on 

the forehead. Finding 11 – the painting is named ‘Crown’. Findings 12, 13 – the paintings are 

named 'Talisman'. The red leaf becomes an ornamental, decorative rhythm. Finding 14 

displays a row of minimalist transparent leaves and the dialogue is with the almost red 

background that is around the portrait image. 

The leaf, too, has a dual significance in its symbolism. On one hand it symbolises growth, 

regeneration, fertility and hope (Goldberg, 2005). In this way it reinforces the red colour’s 

characteristics (which were mentioned in the discussion about the red colour) which also talk of 

development, growth and regeneration as well as with hope. On the other hand a leaf also 

includes symbols of sadness, fading, degeneration and decomposition (Goldberg, 2005), such 

as the leaves of the autumn fall. 

The leaf is displayed here in a context of red and green complementary colours. Kreitler (1980) 

notes that “combinations containing complementary colours are experienced as loaded with 

tension” (p. 41). Therefore the duality is not only in its significance as a symbol but also its 

combination with red, as it appears in the findings here. The location, in which the artist often 

places it, in the centre of the forehead, also echoes the 'mark of Cain' (See chapter 6 – Image 

and Writing). 

The Intertextual approach encourages one to seek contexts and connotations that are hidden 

in the text. Kristeva (1989) describes them as parts of the semiotic language that are hidden in 

the text which is written in the language of symbolism. The artist’s repeated use of the leaf, in 

different appearances, different colours and which occasionally returns to the forehead’s centre 

hints about itself as something that has to be related to. 

72

The word leaf appears in different expressions. For example, the expression “windblown leaf”, 

which means weak, tired, unstable; or the expression “fig leaf”, which means camouflage and 

cover. Therefore, the leaf that appears and returns repeatedly and with great obstinacy delivers 

a message and emits significances. Dual messages such as, for example, a leaf placed in the 

centre of the forehead, as if wanting to announce and discover (see 'mark of Cain' – chapter 6), 

but at the same time wanting to conceal through the connotation of the expression “fig leaf”. 

The leaf broadcasts dualistic situations, and represents as well the power of contrasts. The 

same leaf that can carry a connotation of “windblown leaf” and describe tiredness and 

weakness, turns into a string of leaves above the chief’s head (findings 10, 13), and a “crown” 

(finding 11), a crown of leaves symbolising victory and glory (Goldberg 2005), as also appears 

from the name of the painting “An Indian Chief and a Red Leaf”. The leaves symbolising victory 

and glory lead to bay leaves and finding 8. There the painting’s name is “Daf - Na” (as were 

explained above). 

The leaves appear in different shapes. A lone colourless leaf or a group of leaves in a string of 

leaves coloured red. A lone leaf has the connotation of a life that has been cut off and expired. 

Like the leaf that is torn off the branch and fallen, like the fall of autumn leaves, like the “last 

leaf” in O. Henry’s story that informs the artist that his time has come to leave the world, and 

like Haim Nachman Bialik’s poem “Zanach Lo Zalzal” (The Long Bough) that describes death, 

non-existence and inanimateness. But in these cases the artist adds the second characteristic 

and colours it in red, or places it on a red background, a colour that announces birth, life, 

fertility and also death. The red leaf, and the different variations it appears in, carries with it the 

story of a lake that has death, decomposition, destruction and hope of growth and renewal. And 

as was already mentioned, the story of the lake is the story of a portrait, a story of man. 

73

Appendix 4 

Chapter 9: 

TECHNIQUES AND MATERIALS 


Baudelaire says "the foremost quality of the drawer is an honest and slow study of his model" 

(in Dikman, 2003: 49). In choosing the technique of drawing, the artist indicates that she 

intends to investigate, improve her skills and even enhance her self-image as a painter. Her 

journals confirm this: "Sometimes I wish to activate my creativity and do all kinds of 

things with myself. And then another voice tells me no, first learn to draw your face, AS 

IS. First, draw a good academic drawing in which you draw yourself as near as possible 

to what you look like" (A2 (a) – 24.3.04). The artist challenges and criticizes herself as 

painter: "I have not yet reached the state where I am satisfied. I draw good pictures, but 

cannot yet say about myself that I know how to draw a portrait…I know how it is done, 

what is to be done, I have the hand […] but am not yet satisfied with myself as a painter, 

I still have more to learn" (A2 (b) – 16.4.04). 

At the same time drawing evokes intimacy, a quiet attention to an inner voice: "Yes, I wish to 

call the period of drawing a 'meeting', meeting myself, being alone, and all my three 

hundred faces that I still have to discover while drawing them and taking them out of 

myself" (A2 (b) – 3.4.04). 

Making drawing a central and dominant technique goes hand in hand with the technique of 

photography which the Lake book uses. Traditionally, both techniques represent reality. Both 

are supposed to be neutralised by reality and serve as documentation, presenting reality as it 

is, to act as documentary witness. But here, as a matter of fact, both interpret reality. Black 

and white photographs do not present an accurate picture because they take distance from 

nature, so as to look at it in a different way (Tumarkin, 1994). Nor, as the research indicates, 

does the artist produce a precise copy of her face. Hence the inner correspondence between 

drawing and photography presents another aspect of looking at reality and the act of 

interpretation. 

The artist chooses two tools for her drawing, charcoal and pencil. Each represents a different 

way of drawing. It seems that even the artist’s drawing, a technique which declares in advance 

the need for discipline, severity and study, is a battlefield ― between the wish to remove 

74

constrictions and work freely and the wish to stop, listen and behave strictly. Even within the 

stringent rules that the artist imposes on herself, and the wish to obey what the book of 

photographs dictates, the artist finds 'escape routes' through her expressive work in charcoal. 

This tool provides more freedom: "I was just drawing, without any plans, without great 

declarations, aimlessly, without grandiose objectives. There is the studio, there is paper, 

charcoal, there is the mirror, there is me – Cheers to the artist… Without crediting the 

gods of art, I drew… for an hour and a half in black charcoal and white, easily, 

vigorously" (A2 (a) – 30.6.04). "So I am working on wrapping paper (meaning that I do 

not take any responsibility). Not yet paint on canvas. Black, white, grey – charcoal. I 

somehow stick to reality, reality that looks at me, forces itself on me. But trying to free 

myself and unwind" (A2 (a) – 21.3.04). "Today I started to draw, black charcoal on 

wrapping paper – in my eyes it means simplicity and also freedom" (A2 (a) – 11.3.03). "I 

started working and worked quite thoroughly […] I covered, overlaid, drew, spread […] 

and my hands took crayons. Again I covered, again overlaid […] and my hands took 

crayons and charcoal pencil" (A2 (a) – 20.4.04). The charcoal thus represents both the voice 

of discipline and the voice of yearning for freedom and release. 

While charcoal calls for freedom, pencil calls for order. The struggle becomes more severe and 

the artist chooses to change medium: "I suddenly realised that charcoal is unsuitable for 

the objectives I had set for myself. With charcoal I can achieve a total coverage of the 

page. This is not good because it denies all that was there before "(A2 (a) – 7.4.03). 

Discipline becomes stronger and with it the wish to adjust herself to the book: "Today I 

approach the book sitting down, listening, a little more skilled […] I changed from 

charcoal to a fine pencil, I think it is more intimate and suitable for a book" (A2 (a) – 

7.4.03). To the rules that hem her in and which she demands of herself she adds the wish to 

draw better. So she returns to pencil: "Drawing with a pencil is a way to observe and 

investigate. It is deep observation, merciless, very slow, that enables you to wander over 

every line of the facial features, while perpetuating them "(A2 (a) -1.4.06)."The quality of a 

typical drawer is chiefly in the refinement of the finish, a finish that cancels out the brush 

strokes" (Baudelaire in Dikman, 2003: 31). 

The artist feels that in using charcoal, she loses the discipline she demands of herself, and so 

moves to pencil. To the pencil she attributes a high ability to achieve intimacy, concentration, 

precision: "I love to work with a soft 6B pencil […] I love its intimacy […] its nuances, 

softness. I practice drawing, modestly with one pencil only. I continue drawing for 

another hour: one can still work on it" (A2 (a) - 5.4.06). "The pencil, the small-scale 

75

drawing, this book attracts me. The intimacy, precision, quiet, concentration" (A2 (a) – 

15.3.05). The decision to change from charcoal to pencil is analogous to the decision to work in 

black and white only, without colour. 

Changing to pencil exposes the learning and research process the artist has imposed on 

herself. The delicate pencil prevents her from bursting out and helps maintain discipline and 

reserve. At certain times the artist seems to be in harmony with this step, flows with it, satisfied 

and aware of the learning process she is experiencing: "I continue to draw – it is 

unbelievable what I see that I had not noticed before" (A2 (a) – 8.8.04). "I get to know the 

face better, and am convinced more and more that the terms I forced on myself, to start 

with drawing and persevere in drawing, draw, draw, draw, this is a good and correct 

start […] Today was a 'Eureka' day. I started to improve my understanding of what I see. 

Now I investigate faces. I examine every face I see, study it. Many things I really did not 

know. I did not know enough about the structure of the mouth, the skull, the eye, the 

face. I observe and learn" (A2 (a) – 29.3.04). This is another way to look at myself. And I 

draw in pencil" (A2 (a) – 1.4.06). "I draw my face, of course, and I discover that even 

today, after so many years of drawing faces, my face, I discover more, learn more about 

the face" (A2 (a) – 13.3.06). 

So, in the totality of what seems to be a single clear technique – drawing – two different forces 

represent the struggle and tension of contrast that produces the whole ― between the freedom 

of charcoal and the order and discipline of pencil. The artist writes: "but I have reached the 

conclusion that I do not want to plan my work too much. I approach it spontaneously 

and try to look at my face investigatively"(A2 (a) – 13.4.03). The inner argument continues: 

"All my life I have lived in a sketch, I have not yet reached a real painting. A sketch is a 

preparation, and I am getting ready. I, too, am waiting for Godot" (A2 (a) – 15.3.06). For 

the time being, the solution is to continue creating. Baudelaire says: "The real masters of 

drawing are philosophers, simplifiers of the essence. The colourists are epic poets" (in Dikman, 

2003:32). This artist moves to and fro between philosopher/investigator and poetic painter. 


In Fig. 51(6), the artist has covered the photograph with grey paint, on which she draws a kind 

of portrait. She describes this in her journal: "I covered the page with black and white 

acrylic. Later I thought that it would be an African mask, and continued with colours" 

76

(A2 (a) 8.8.04). On both sides of the work she writes, in paint, the word 'persona', and with a 

pen she writes on top: "At last I am prepared to admit to myself what my real motivation 

is". This finding hands a clue to the significance of the repeating patterns. In saying that she 

painted something like an African mask, the artist alludes to Picasso and Braque, who were 

inspired by African masks and integrated repeated, decorative ornamentation in their Cubist 

work (e.g. Still Life on a Red Tablecloth, 1936: Peiper, 1983). The Latin word 'persona' 

originally meant a mask and Jung borrows this word to describe personality which, according to 

him, is a kind of falsehood, like wearing a mask (Jung, 1989, 1993, and in Storr, 1998). Fig. 52 

(1, 2) also looks like a mask image. In this way the artist connects painting a portrait with 

painting a mask, and symbolically raises one of the central questions of this research, since 

she is studying her face in order to know her own innermost attributes. 

In performances by peoples of the Maya culture, masks symbolised the inner personality which 

is mostly hidden by one's outer appearance (Goldberg, 2005). Thus, the guise of painting a 

mask, raises once more subjects like exposure and hiding ( see chapter 6 –Image and writing) . 

This idea links too the Hebrew word for face - 'panim' (and within it ‘pnim’) - which reflects both 

the outer 'face' and 'inner' parts of a thing. 

Thus symbolism explains that a mask means a change or blurring of identity, or the search for 

an identity. This search is sometimes alluded to via the use of drawing techniques, and 

sometimes it appears in a subversive manner through ornament which looks like decoration or 

adornment. 

Other findings also echo ancient cultures. 


Fig. 55: 3 Paintings - Ancient Cultures - Findings from 'Data Group' (A1 (a)) 

Fig. 56: 1 item - Sarah's Tent – Findings from 'Data Group' (A1 (b)) 

Fig. 57(a, b, c): 18 Items - details from Sarah's Tent – Findings from 'Data 

Group' (A1(c)) and (C1) 

77

3 

For instance, in Fig. 53(1) a photograph of an Inca sculpture has been pasted on, and in Fig. 

53 (2, 3) a photograph of ancient Egyptian wall-paintings is used. Fig. 52(1, 2) is described by 

the artist in her journal as "… like an icon, amulet or talisman" (A2 (a) – 5.9.04). Thus, all 

these findings recall ancient cultures, taking from them symbol or metaphor or meaningful 

image. All this is implicit, not explicit. The artist alludes to a mythic story, and as such it is 

meaningful, carries messages (Vardi, 1996: Segal, 2007). The artist tells us her story, and as 

Jung (1993) says, her story is her myth ― a myth meant to serve her as a guide while she 

investigates and creates herself. 

Further on in her journals, the artist continues: "The image looks like something enclosed in 

a womb, in blue amniotic fluid […] the work seems to me like a head placed on a jug, or 

a bouquet of flowers, something from nature sitting on a vase or like a mummified image 

in a jar, or maybe a queen in the deep sea" (A2 (a) – 5.9.04 ) . This, too, alludes to 

mythological legends and figures. 

1 

In Chapter 5 the research introduced the finding, Sarah's Tent. This work, too, incorporates a 

repeating pattern in the context of biblical stories and a combination of mythical and biblical 

figures. The tent's canvas is created from disintegrated portrait paintings from which certain 

78 

2

parts (images, shapes, parts of the face) were taken to create a new painting. The parts taken 

form a repeating pattern. 

79

1 

5 

9 

13 

2 

6 

10 

14 

80 

3 

7 

11 

4 

12 

15 

8

16 

Fig. 55 shows some of the portraits from the tent's canvas which shows a repeating pattern. 

The large number of these findings points to the fact that the repetition is not only for 

decoration, but has a definite meaning. 

The research supports the contention that the repetitive pattern refers to ancient cultures with 

another quotation from the artist journals, about Finding in Fig. 52 (1,2): "It looks to me like 

teraphim (idols), an amulet, an Egyptian queen, something of the Aztecs – all of these" 

(A2 (a) – 16.12.04). The Intertextual approach decrees that every name is a hint adding 

another meaning to the text and exposing more layers. Names that turn up here join names 

mentioned earlier with regard to other findings (Sphinx Woman, Woman of Swords, Athena, 

and others). For lack of space the research will not go into a deeper interpretation of the names 

but only point out that these, too, indicate that the artist was both directed by, and referred to, 

ancient cultures. 

17 

The repeated pattern also alludes to works of Andy Warhol (Marilyn Monroe, 1964) where an 

image of Marilyn Monroe is repeated again and again. In Fig. 55a (5) - paintings from Sarah’s 

Tent, the repeated element is the artist’s self-portrait, which refers both to Warhol and to the 

cultural discourse over popular art versus high art and the relationship between them. The 

research and the interpretation approach are conducting a discourse with art, culture, fetishes, 

duplication, reproduction, feminism and sexuality. In the intertextual dialogue, Marilyn Monroe, 

81 

18

as a female sex symbol, refers to Mae West (In Chapter 6, Image and Writing), while Warhol 

alludes to Salvador Dali, and in between are Picasso, Braque and Matisse, and cultures 

ancient and modern. 

In the process of investigating and creating her self, the artist adjusts herself to a particular kind 

of self, to a moulding of the individualism of the subject which is typical of post-structuralist 

modern culture (Strenger, 1999: 2005). No differentiation between high and low culture, no 

cultural 'holy writ' is admitted. All there is the materials used to create reality. 

The artist makes these repeating patterns by processing, changing, reconstructing, 

deconstructing and re-assembling original works of art. The hints at ornamentation and 

decoration go together with change, fracture, destruction and transformation. "I destroy the 

shape of my paintings. I enter them, turn them around, cut, change, join parts, wound, 

attach, design and use them as raw material […] I invade my paintings, tear them up and 

re-create them" (A2(a) – 1.12.04). "They are not the holy of holies, they become icons, 

teraphim, objects between which I wander […] and do what I fancy (after all, they are 

mine and I can do what I want)" (A2 (b) - 16.12.04). The repeating pattern is the end product 

of a creative process and always offers something new. It is a metaphor for the process of 

growth, creation and renewal which rises through destruction and shattering and struggle. The 

artist constructs something new on top of the old, but the old stays by its side. 

To make repeating patterns the artist deconstructs a portrait, choose part of the face (lips or 

eye), detach it from its context and turn it into a recurrent motif (Fig 55a) At first glance it seems 

that the repeated pattern creates a decorative texture, but in fact it is part of the face, hence it 

has semiotic significance. The research said earlier that repetition is like a shout, a cry for 

attention. It can therefore be assumed that the repeated appearance of the eye symbolises. 

The artist isolates parts of the face and uses them in different ways. The face part’s isolation 

connects to two categories: ‘Dismantling and Re-assembling' and ‘Repeating and Pattern’. 

The act in which the artist observes her face and chooses one part, which she paints as an 

image in itself, indicates an act of dismantling. Dismantling of a mould (as one can read in the 

chapter 9, that present the category of 'Dismantling and Re- Assembling'). 

In the same way the artist chooses a certain part of the face and turns it into a motif that she 

uses in different and numerous variations, and creates a new structure, a new texture. 

Here the research wishes to discuss the motif which the artist has chosen and to understand 

the significance of a certain part that appears again and again. Like a sentence or a word that 

repeats itself again and again. (See chapter 7 – 'Image and writing'). 

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The assumption is that when the artist consciously or subconsciously chooses a certain shape, 

word, or an image, and insists on repeating it, it is loaded and has significance. This is also true 

when it apparently seems to be creating an ornament, a texture, or a structure. When the 

image is clear, it speaks for itself. It appears as a metaphor and therefore it is visually visible 

and contains internal contents. 

Following are findings that demonstrate this phenomenon. 

Fig. 65: eyes – examples – Findings from 'Data Group' (A1 (a)) 

Two eyes symbolise human normalcy, physical normalcy and spiritual equality (Goldberg, 

2005) whereas one eye is an ambivalent symbol. On the one hand it symbolises the sub 

human, evil monstrosity and the power of destruction (like the Cyclops), and on the other hand 

it is the third eye that is located on the forehead which symbolises enlightenment, spirituality, 

and intelligent intuition (Goldberg 2005). 

The finding that presents below it is a painting in which only one eye is painted and near it, on 

the adjacent page, the artist covers the photograph in yellow colour and sticks a headline cut 

out from a newspaper “The Radiance, the Spiritual Feeling”. 

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Fig. 58: 1 Painting – The Eye 1 - Finding from 'Data Group' (A1 (a)) 

In all the findings in which the image/motif of eye or eyes appear the work is done by drawing 

and in black and white colours. As was mentioned in previous chapters (Chapter 6 – Image and 

writing; Chapter 7 – drawing), drawing represents the thinking, the profound observation, and 

the investigative painting process. The eyes that appear as a pattern that repeats itself 

symbolise and represent the thinking, investigative and observant process. This is a process in 

which the artist is trying to read her image and paint it. Plato names the eye “the sunniest 

instrument”, and says: “there is an eye for the soul...and only through it is truth seen” (quoted in 

Goldberg, 2005: 589). The eye is closely connected to the symbols of light. It represents 

enlightenment, light, knowledge, wisdom, protection, stability, and adhering to a target 

(Goldberg, 2005). 

The artist refers to the issue of seeing in her journals “I have now learnt even better to 

neutralise the knowing and concentrate on seeing. And when one starts to see it doesn’t 

end, it has no end, how much there is to see and what has to be done” (A2 (a) – 29.3.04). 

The artist describes the process of observing her image that is seen in the mirror, and the 

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drawing process, as part of the act of observing “I look in my magnifying glass and see 

everything well. Observing and drawing at ease. And Discover that after an intensive six 

months of painting a face in front of a mirror I see today, for the first time, more things 

that up till now I had never seen. It’s not that they weren’t there; I didn’t know how to see 

them. I see more depths, more shadows, and more lights. And suddenly everything is so 

bright and clear and easy to do” (A2 (a) – 8.8.04). Í continue to draw – it’s unbelievable, 

the things I see now that I didn’t see until now. Until now I was far from the mirror. I 

stood afar and observed from there (what didn’t I want to see, why was I afraid to draw 

near?) (ibid.). The artist describes the situations in which she is observing in a profound 

manner, discovering new things every time, seeing differently, and uses the drawing technique 

for that. “I am starting to know the face better, and I am more and more convinced that 

the fact that I forced myself to start drawing and to persevere in drawing and to draw, 

draw, draw, it’s a good and a correct beginning” (AII(a) – 29.3.04). And she continues to 

describe the insights that follow the observation “Today is the day that I had a kind of 

“eureka”. I started to better understand what I was seeing. Now I am investigating a face. 

I study and learn every face I see. There are many things I didn’t really know. I didn’t 

know enough about the structure of the mouth, the eyeball, the face. I am observing and 

learning” (ibid.). 

The subject of observation occupies the artist’s thoughts. The eye motif that obstinately 

appears in many of the works also testifies to that. (One must remember that the research is 

described as “a chain of observations”). 

The eye motif which appears in the different drawings creates ways of focusing. Sometimes it 

is an accurate observation and alternatively there are peeking situations. 

Finding from 'Data Group' (A1 (a): Fig. 56 indicates this phenomenon. 

Fig. 59: – 1 Painting – The Eye 2 - Finding from 'Data Group' (A1 (a)) 

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The eye is peeking out from thorny bushes, lines that look like thorny lines. The thorny bushes 

situated on the eyes look threatening. The bushes describe something prickly and these allude 

to the expression “like the piercing of a sword”. The feeling of pain comes from a combination 

of the images and becomes clearer from the linguistic connotation. 

The artist also adds an ear (exceptionally). The artist writes in handwriting on the painting’s 

sides “Seeing Eye, true/ defiant, tough, stubborn forehead/ attentive ear, not amputated/ 

the eye sees, sees and weeps [....] and the ear/ attentive/ attentive to the eye observing 

its mischief/ with defiance” (p. 39, - 13.4.04). The text is corresponding with another famous 

ear – Van Gogh’s ear. The text connects to Van Gogh who also worked with self portraits, 

investigation of the self, and who painted his portrait with his ear bandaged. The artist uses 

Van Gogh and broadcasts distress through him, and the feeling of pain becomes stronger. 

The words of the song describe a dual situation of attention, concentration, seeing and 

determination. From this one can learn about the pain and the learning that accompanies it. 

Further on the artist writes “The eye that sees as the lily among thorns”. This sentence 

echoes to the verse from the Canticles (Song of Solomon, 2, 2) in which man praises his love 

and emphasises her uniqueness and excellence: not a flower amongst other flowers, but an 

outstandingly beautiful flower amongst thorns. The artist talks of difference and uniqueness 

alongside pain. 

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A phenomenon of an eye poking out among thorny bushes also appears in finding from 'Data 

Group' (A1 (a)): Fig. 56 

Fig. 60: 1 Painting - The Eye 3 - Finding from 'Data Group' (A1 (a)) 

The artist writes in her journals “I think in my heart of the image of Sleeping Beauty closed 

in by bushes and thorns, from every direction, making it difficult to find her, and she 

slept eternal sleep. Something else could have woken her. The truth, the authenticity. I 

am emotional as I write this. A real constriction of the chest. I feel that I’m sleeping, 

surrounded by walls of plants and bushes, flowers and thorns – everything and I’m deep 

deep inside there sleeping inside a locked and bolted cage” (A2 (b) -30.11.04). This too 

can describe a situation of “as the lily among thorns”. 

At an exhibition which was set up and displayed for the psycho dramatic process, the artist 

spaces the paintings and all the portraits turn towards the centre. The artist/curator names the 

exhibition “They Were as Eyes for me and I served them as a Mouth”, and writes in a text 

that is defined as “the Curator text”. 

“I entered a room that was dark, and together with the light which lit up and flickered, 

tens of eyes looked at me from all directions. Blaming eyes, questioning eyes, angry 

eyes, extinguished eyes, divided eyes, eyes that see things as they are, and eyes that 

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look even further to the horizon and eternity, at the same time looking inwards as well. 

Determined eyes, tranquil eyes, eyes that tell a thousand tales. Talking eyes, they have 

to talk; they don’t have a choice because the mouth is closed” (A2 (c) -28.2.06). 

During the activity she is requested to talk on behalf of the eyes that peek out from all over and 

this is what she says: 

“Eyes, you enter the exhibition’s space and you are surrounded by tens of eyes peeking 

at you from all directions. Some express sorrow and pain, some are alienated, some 

expressing guilt, some simultaneously looking inwards and outwards, some 

emphasised and painted and prominent and drawn very meticulously, all the eyes are 

telling some story and the story has continuity, as a theme that appears repeatedly, they 

accompany the images that develop from different directions and carry on a dialogue 

with each other, and sometimes with the observer or with themselves, and this happens 

in spite of the mouth refusing to talk in most cases” (C2 (a) 9: 12). 

A dialogue develops as part of the exercise, Dr' Avrahami is the guide. 

Avrahami asks: “Hello, Nurit’s eyes. Nurit’s eyes, I see you are very central in the portrait 

paintings, you are imminent all around me, I am looking at you here on this chair for 

convenience only but you are all around us. In what direction do you usually look? I am 

asking a simple question, where are you looking?” 

The artist answers: “In the portrait paintings we are looking at what I see in the mirror. As 

if, my eyes are looking into my own eyes. I am looking inside me and actually I am 

looking at what I am seeing and it looks back at me and it’s as if there is no end to 

looking. I am looking at the image that is reflected at me. Eyes into eyes. I am looking 

into myself infinitely. I am looking at what I am seeing and it is looking back at me and 

so on and so forth” (C2 (a) 3: 2). 

Avrahami asks: “Nurit’s eyes looking at Nurit, who is present here, look at what Nurit 

would have wanted to be and tell me what you see. What’s the first thing that you 

grasp?” (C2 (a) 3: 3). 

The artist answers: “Even though there isn’t a precise definition of eyes they are eyes that 

look very far, ahead and back, seeing a lot ahead, above beyond the horizon and 

inwards too. Seeing a sort of view from above towards the horizon and inwards as well. 

Outwards and inwards” (C2 (a) 6: 3). 

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Avrahami leads and guides: “As opposed to, for example, and these eyes that are looking 

where? Remember these are the eyes of...” 

The artist responds: “Mother. Looking at a certain point. We see a lot of expression, of 

pain as well; these eyes have some sort of insight. Something like oh, I understand, pain 

and sorrow and understanding all very intensive, a lot of concentration. They ask and 

say something. Asking and saying together. Asking and saying something together.” 

(C2 (a) 3: 7) 

Avrahami: “And these eyes? (From the blue painting). 

The artist: “Piercing, looking inwards”. 

A comprehensive Discussion revolved about the subject of the eyes. This Discussion showed 

that what started as a meaningful saying in finding from 'Data Group' (AI (a)), broadens later 

on. The eyes have significance and importance. The psycho dramatic process naturally led the 

artist into revealing the significance the eyes held for her. The knowledge that comes from 

these data reinforces the insight that comes out of the text and broadens the significance. A 

collection of feelings, thoughts, pain, determination, wonder, and more, comes out from the 

findings presented above. 

Another part the artist isolates and paints a lot, as an image in itself, are the lips, or the mouth 

(as was shown already in other contexts). 

In Discussions dealing with other categories the research made an analogy between the mouth 

and the female sex organ (when the red colour analysed in the Visual Values Category). In 

patriarchal cultures a woman must conceal her mouth and is not allowed to have her voice 

heard by others (Goldberg, 2005). She must also conceal her nudity as is written in the Jewish 

sources “a woman’s voice is lewd” (‘kol baisha erva’ - the voice of singing woman equals 

lewdness, since it may distract one from prayer, Talmud Blessings Tractate 24, 1). The artist 

displays lips and the research connects it to sexuality. There is a subversive act here, as the 

artist on the one hand presents the lips and on the other hand they are always closed and quiet 

– voiceless. Once again the situation in which “one sees the voices” appears (as mentioned in 

chapters 5 and 6) 

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Fig. 61: 3 examples – Lips - Findings from Data Group (A1 (a)) 

Finding from Data Group (A1 (a): Fig, 65 (encountered in other contexts) describes the meeting 

between lips and flower, through the verbal context. 

: Fig.62 - 2 examples – Lips 2 - Finding from 'Data Group' (A1 (a)) 

Finding from 'Data Group' (A1 (a)): Fig, 62 describes a completely inverted situation, here the 

lips meet an image of thorny vegetation. That is, a soft mouth can also be prickly. 

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The study pointed at the situations of speech and silence in the Discussions shown in the 

Category dealing with Image and Writing and. A struggle of opposites in which the lips' images 

consistently show a silent mouth. 

During the psycho dramatic activity the artist says: 

“I feel that the mouths are closed, don’t want to tell. (points to her work and says), this 

one firmly refuses, and this one too [....] on the whole I feel that the mouths are blocked, 

they don’t want to talk.” 

Avrahami says: Even if the eyes have stories, in general the mouths in this exhibition are 

closed tight and don’t want to tell”. 

In most cases the mouth is silent; things that need to be said are said in other ways (through 

images, words, colours, writing, hints and references}. There is only one time in which the 

mouth is open, as the artist says: 

“Eyes that both see and say a lot and the mouth is silent. And when it is no longer silent 

and wants to say something, then it shouts and the eyes pop out of their sockets” (C2 

(a) 3: 22). 

Fig. 63 – 1 Painting – Open Mouth -Findings from 'Data Group' (B1 (b) 

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In different cultures the gaping mouth represents the devouring mouth of the big mother: it 

represents the entrance to the underworld or the stomach of the whale (Goldberg, 2005). This 

is similar to the big greedy mother of the earth motif (in the Category which dealt with the cover 

of the ‘Book - Object’). In the Old Testament a connection is formed between the mouth and 

fire, both are described as gluttonous and consuming. The fire is described as eating like the 

mouth. The fire and the mouth have things in common; both are attributed with creation (by 

speech) and destruction (by eating and swallowing). 

The combination between the mouth and fire is expressed in this finding (above) through the 

gaping mouth and the red orange shades that symbolise and describe the fire. As is also 

described in the journal: “what occurs to me as I look at the painting, a woman shouting 

and going up in flames in the bonfire. Perhaps not shouting, perhaps asking”? (A2 (a) – 

24.8.04). 

The next finding make the connection between lips and fire more prominent. 

Fig. 64: 1 Painting – Red lips -Finding from 'Data Group' (c1) 

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Elsewhere the study represents each of the facial parts the artist is strict about painting in 

different ways (chapter 9). She isolates the eyes from the mouth. Eyes separate and mouth 

separate, and a dialogue is created despite the separation. These parts carry on between them 

an inner dialogue. 

The Discussion in the psycho dramatic process describes this, as written in "The Curator's 

Text”: 

“Eyes speak, they have to speak, they have no choice because the mouth is closed [...]. 

The lips are tightly closed; shut, blocked and the words come out through the eyes. The 

words that have turned to tears, as we found in the song of the dying lake. The lips are 

the ones that block, that close that do not let the words come out. But the words must 

come out and they come out through the eyes. And when the mouth does open with a 

shout the eyes pop out of their sockets” (A2 (c) – 28.2.06) 

Summing up, the research says that re-cycling existing materials to create patterns, aesthetics 

and a kind of beauty, can be a metaphor for creating the self. Strenger (1999) defines this as 

the aesthetics of creating the self, as a way in which the self takes ownership over the 

materials of its fateful life. With these materials man moulds and shapes his ''self' and his life, 

just as though he were creating a work of art. 

9.4 Aquarelle 

Working with water colours gives the artist a kind of freedom. "They have their own borders, 

their own route. You cannot control them, but still it turns out well" (A2 (a) – 23.3.06). 

This technique is also a metaphor for Intertextuality. Patches of colour are laid, one layer on top 

of another, and yet their transparency makes it possible to look deep within and identify the 

separate layers ― a metaphor for the artist peeling away layers to look inside herself. Since 

water symbolises men and women’s emotional stratum (Goldberg, 2005), water colours give 

added meaning to Strenger's (1999) definition of the 'deep self' that resides in the depths of our 

body and contains all that man carries along as heritage, culture and experience. 

The aquarelle paintings lead to two central issues in this research study, first, women's 

creativity, and second, narcissism ― the lake that became a swamp and the lake as mirror. 

Goldberg (2005) explains that water symbolises the emotions that are always in flux. When 

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emotions stagnate they turn into a murky swamp. But the artist also uses aquarelles to bring 

forth fresh flowing waters, waters of creation and revival. The waters of women's bubbling 

creativity, "the river below the river" (Pinkola-Este's, 1997). 

The murky waters of the lake are the clogging of female instinctive creativity. The woman feels 

blocked, deprived of life: "there is a terrible thirst for vitality, fertility is harmed […] eggs do not 

hatch, no new life, and then we feel ill and want to move on […] we wander aimlessly, pretend 

we can manage without an abundant creative life, but we cannot" (Pinkola-Este's, 1997: 266). 

This situation is described by the artist in her journals: "I stayed home with the declared aim 

of starting to paint. I want to and do not want to. I long for this, and am excited, but I also 

delay it. I sit at the computer, prefer to write or read and postpone the issue" (A2 (b) – 

11.1.04). "I am unable to start painting. I promised myself that today I would paint, that 

was the plan. But I did everything not to do it. I have not broken the barrier yet. What 

stops me?" (A2 (b) – 26.1.04). "I cannot go down to the studio to paint: I am stuck in 

books […] and plan when to go down to paint. And I cannot. I think about this, maybe 

yearn, know I have to do it, do not go, do not do, and feel inside myself that perhaps the 

time is not yet ripe. Something has been extinguished in me" (A2 (b) – 2.2.04). 

This is how Pinkola-Este's (1997) describes the predicament: “When creative life dies because 

we do not look after the health of the river, we feel exactly like the dying river: we feel a loss of 

energy, tired, nothing flows, rages … We become slow in a negative manner, poisoned by 

pollution, the accumulation of all our wealth starts to rot. We feel that all is dirty, murky and 

poisonous" (p. 270). And the artist’s diaries confirm her words: " I have not yet started 

painting […] painting demands energy. First of all I do not have much energy […] every 

time I think I should start painting, I find an excuse to return to the computer and write" 

(A2 (b) – 4.2.04). "I did not manage to paint today and my distress has doubled. I still feel 

nothing. Nothing has happened to me" (A2 (b) – 9.5.04). "Today I will have to pull myself 

up by my bootstraps and go down to the studio, hoping that at long last I will get into a 

routine” (A2 (b) – 10.5.04). "I woke up at six o'clock to go down and paint, and slept till 

seven. I woke up at seven and stayed in bed another half hour […] I finally went down 

about nine o'clock and that, too, dragging myself, with difficulty" (A2 (b) – 2.6.04). 

Pinkola-Este's claims that one must not let things stay in this state; one has to return to creative 

life, to clean and purify the water. And the artist did just that: "I got up without much desire to 

start painting. But what is important is what I must do: this is no summer camp, it is a 

task, it is work. It is a meeting one has to attend under any conditions. So with this 

knowledge I went down and worked, and some things did happen" (A2 (b) – 1.6.04). She 

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dipped into the 'dying lake', dived into its murky colours (black and white) and slowly, via the 

blue aquarelle paintings, poured fresh water into it. However, in the murky water she hears 

inner, destructive, voices telling her "Your work is not good enough, it is neither this nor that, it 

is too grandiose, too tiny and insignificant, takes too much time, too easy, too difficult" (Pinkola- 

Este's, 1997: 270). 

Again the artist's own words confirm this: "I do not consider myself a great painter, I do not 

approach painting with pretensions or ambitions to be the most famous painter. That is 

lost, anyway. I have no intention to paint each painting in the most original way, no 

plans for a future exhibition: the dialogue is only within me" (A2 (b) -11.2.04). 

"Meanwhile, time passes: I become sceptical about the painting. What am I doing there? 

Who needs it? Is it important at all? What am I innovating? After all, hundreds of 

thousands of self-portraits have already been painted. What is so important about my 

work? And then the main question arises: Even if it is important what is considered 

important? And to whom should it be important? Who decides what is important and 

what is not? And what is important if this is?" (A2 (b) – 15.2.04). "As a matter of fact I 

have chosen to paint myself because this is what I know how to do and am prepared to 

do. But I am not at all certain that this is what I must do […] sometimes I want to use my 

creativity to do all kinds of things with myself" (A2 (b) – 24.3.04). 

Fig. 58 (findings from 'Data Group' (B1(c)) reinforces the story about creativity and water, but at 

the same time it indicates another aspect of water, the aspect of reflection and its implications 

for Narcissism. 

Fig. 67: 2 Items – Reflection and Water- Findings from 'Data Group' (B1(c)) 

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The research study discussed this finding, The Three Graces, earlier in Chapter 5, saying then 

that it stood out for its multiple images and the introduction of jugs. It is associated with the 

theme of water for several reasons: the act of reflection, the jugs of water, the colour orange, 

which is related to water and creativity (Wills, 2000) and the artist’s statement ( at the 

psychodrama encounter) that "There is legend of Three Graces who went to the well, from 

a story" (C2 (a),12: 22): "One day the older woman saw her image reflected in the water 

and decided to take out all the water so as to get to the image she saw and remove it 

from the deep well […] she drew more and more water[…] so that water constantly 

refilled the well, clean, fresh water […] She took from the cool water in the jars and 

because they were very thirsty they slaked their thirst with the cool, pure and clean 

water and thus cleansed their souls […]. Later she used the water to make a good meal 

and finally she left it for them in the room, in a glass bowl, so that they could look into 

the water as a mirror" (C2 (a): 4, 6). 

This finding comes from 2 sources: 1. an exceptional 'Data Group' (B1 (c)) .2 the alternative 

data group (C2). The only other place this direct and metaphoric allusion to water appears is in 

'Data Group' (A1 (a)). But there the orange colour, so dominant in this work, is absent. Finding 

from 'Data Group' (B1 (c)) focuses precisely on the story of the lake. It stands at the very centre 

96

of this study ― a core and key finding. On the one hand, it connects the painting of water and 

the lake with images and reflections in the lake, and on the other hand, it serves as a bridge to 

a series of findings in 'Data Group' (C1), where the issue of reflection is very evident. 

The story of Narcissus and the concept of narcissism turn up throughout the discussion. 

Fig. 68: 4 Paintings – Reflection, Water and the Lake – Findings from 'Data 


1 

97

4 

98 

2 

3

Fig. 59 (4) depicts a figure reflected in water. The artist has added a golden crown to the 

photograph of a swan. She draws a network of wavy lines and writes: "Narcissus or the ugly 

duckling, one and the other, in the dying lake or swamp, everything drowns, drowns or 

not, because the crown is too heavy and not all that glitters is gold" (p. 75). Fig. 59 (1, 2, 

3, and 4) depicts an image reflected in water or from water. The artist is aware that her 

preoccupation with self-portraits is narcissistic: "But above all else, it is clear that I am 

occupied and involved with myself. I dig into my soul, all the time aware of myself, I am 

interested in – and am interesting to ― myself. Must I suffer for being enwrapped in 

narcissism? Do I have to suffer 'pangs of conscience'?" (A2 (b) – 1.3.04). "What is all this 

commotion about self-portrait and self-love?" (A2 (b) – 21.3.04). 

Art researchers do consider preoccupation with the self-portrait to be narcissistic (Peiper, 1983; 

Whiteford, 1987; West, 2004) and "For Alberti, the inventor of painting was Narcissus, gazing 

at his own image in the pool. In his account, painting was as much a mirror of the artist as it 

was self-centred" (quoted in Hall, 1999). Art researchers deal with the issue in artistic contexts 

and psychologists discuss it in their work ― from the healthy narcissism of the early 

developmental stage (Freud, 2007) via personality disorders, all the way to the search for the 

real self, which does not originate in self-worship or self-love but in early deprivation (Miller, 

1992; Kohut, 2005). The artist's search for herself in the lake is very like the act of the 

mythological Narcissus; it is the self-love that cannot be satisfied, perhaps a present 

compensation for the lack of a narcissistic period at the stage when it would have been healthy 

and necessary. 

Fig. 69: 4 Images - Variations on Reflection – Findings from 'Data Group' 

(C1) 

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4 

1 

We are no longer discussing an element of technique or composition, such as the use of 

repeating patterns: we are discussing how the artist copes with her own image. Winnicott 

(1971) defines this as the false self wrapped in the many layers of the real one – the artist digs 

down to expose and confront it. Kohut (2005) and Lacan (in Vanier, 2003) call it an encounter 

with the other self, the split one. Jung (1989, 1993) regards it as images of the self that divide 

and split into more self-images. The artist stands opposite her self, not only physically when 

she stands in front of the mirror, but also in the paintings. ‘Facing up to’ the different parts of 

herself becomes a way to get to know herself through her otherness. All this in order ,at last, to 

reach a state when all the parts shall come together in one whole that will be the self. 

The encounter with the mirror is the first and essential link in the 'Chain of Observations'. 'Data 

Group' (B2) shows how early this encounter with the mirror started. 

Fig. 70: 4 Items – Reflections and Mirrors – Findings from 'Data Group' (B2) 

100 

2 

3

101

In these findings the mirror is both a tool to enable the artist to observe herself and creative 

material. She inserts the mirror into the work itself. Shatters the mirrors, and glues the pieces 

on. One can say that what served her basically, faithfully and tangibly in her first round of 

portrait paintings (in 1987) has in the second round of portrait painting (2004-2006), become 

refined, alluded to via the technique of aquarelle. 

Another artist who surrounded herself with self-portraits was Frida Kahlo: "Frida Kahlo lived 

surrounded by mirrors. Small or full-length, they could be found all around the house, on the 

floor, on the walls, on doors or armoires, under the canopy of her bed. There was even a mirror 

encased in a garden wall. Each time she felt uneasy over losing grasp of her sense of self – 

and it must have been often – all she had to do was look into a mirror. The reflection 

temporarily replaced her internal inability to sustain a sense of self" (Grimberg, 1998: .83). 

This is the connection between repeating patterns and gazing into a mirror. When the artist 

returns daily to the mirror to paint her portrait, she is also trying to return to that first, original, 

'mirror stage', trying to mend the fracture that happened in the past, and as Kohut (2005) 

suggests, restore the feeling of wholeness that was lost then. The act of painting via a mirror is 

a metaphor for the drive to create a complete self. 

ILS. 26: Reflection and Mirror 

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Appendix 5 

Chapter 10: 

ORGANISATION AND STRUCTURE 


Like the contrasts found in the artist’s findings in earlier chapters, so again deconstruction 

leads to construction. Facial areas, parts of the face and the halved face in the 'Book Object' 

are components of a whole that is a book, all wrapped up, packaged and bound. The same 

took place when the different parts of Sarah's Tent were sewn and embroidered together. 

Another variation on the theme of construction and deconstruction featured in the several 

stages of the psychodrama described in Chapter 5, Section 5.5.1. The process began with 

collecting and wrapping each painting ― the entire same subject, a portrait of the same model 

― and later arranging an exhibition in a large space where each painting was a separate unit. 

The paintings were placed in a closed, single, space, in a state of separation, isolated and 

scattered. The artist describes how the psychodrama entailed her taking on the role of curator 

of the exhibition of her self-portraits: "It is my self portrait […]so many faces[…] and 

space[…] and the works hold dialogues among themselves […], images staring at you 

from all sides, looking at each other, away from the other, through each other, together 

creating a multi-image image […] And the works are displayed in a space, like a multi- 

vocal discourse of one image that says many things at the same time […] the works talk 

to each other […] and the images in space – many faces" (A3 (c) – 27.2.06) 

Fig. 78: 4 Items - Exhibition - Findings from 'Data Group' (D1): Stage 1 

103

The ‘Curator' (A2 (c) – 27.2.06) offers a series of explanations of what guided her in setting up 

the exhibition. Fig. 69 shows paintings dispersed in space. Though the paintings are all 

gathered in one area the feeling is of dispersion and alienation. What unites the paintings is 

only the context, the exhibition area. Though there was supposed to be some order and 

organisation, the feeling is of unruliness, things torn apart. 

Then the artist was requested to change the structure of the exhibition and create a sociometric 

design, and a kind of metamorphosis took place. The artist dismantled the 'exhibition structure' 

and from it, gradually, another structure appeared. 

Fig. 79: 3 Items – Sociometric Design - Findings from 'Data Group' (D1): 

Stage 2 

104

The above three findings describe a situation in which works which had been separate and 

alienated decrease the distance between themselves and join into one, unified unit "each on its 

own, but all together" (C2 (a), 10:11). 

An the third stage, the artist/ curator was asked to consider all the art works as an artist's 

'palette', as material for creation, and use them to produce a self-portrait. 

Fig. 80: 2 Items - Installation – Finding from 'Data Group' (D1): Stage 3 

105

The Curator/ artist describes the process: "No more scattered portraits each standing on a 

personal territory, peering at each other, hesitating, slightly frightened, serious-looking 

investigators, silent, with a questioning look, in black, colour, wild brush strokes and 

shaky charcoal line. They are not scattered any more. Now they conduct a quiet 

conversation, but with a lot of noise. Each is a single image, each has a story, and all 

suckle from one great mother […] these are portraits that have joined together and 

become one large portrait. There is colour in it, and also non-colour. A portrait like a 

puzzle composed from a collection of portraits. Each portrait is just one short (or 

perhaps long) sentence in the whole story. Whether it is upside down, hidden, large or 

small, at the top or on the bottom, or lying on the floor like a rug. Portraits that have 

changed from being an exhibition into an installation […] as if all the portraits solved the 

alienation and slowly walked towards each other to stand side by side, as if one whole 

body, full, uniform and harmonious. As if all fell into place, as if, at the end, they were 

destined to be so. Each work of art found it's exact place and knew what was next to it, 

or above it, and what is in a totally different place […] The voices that had been heard 

from all sides became one voice, one is all and all are one. One large painting composed 

of many tiny paintings. And the whole is more than the total of its parts" (A3 (c) – 

28.2.06). 

106

In an analogy to Jung's approach (1993) one could call this the whole and unified self that 

unites all its different and separate parts. A perceptible demonstration of the crystallisation of 

uniqueness and wholeness. 

At the fourth stage, the artist was asked to take the installation apart and conclude the process: 

"And the works, as if in a given order, by character, colour, subject and place, were 

removed, one by one, with reverence, each placed on its appropriate pile... each in the 

category it was intended for. One on top of the other, one covered the other. Each 

portrait had been revealed for a short period, the time to star and then leave the stage. 

Then the next portrait covered it and became the main actor for a short while. One 

covered the other, and joined a heap and became one again. Layers of portraits. One 

portrait built of layers, one on top of one, page on page, canvas on canvas, colour on 

line, a hill of images as one covered the other yet did not overshadow the others, even 

sometimes deepened the others" (A3 (c) – 28.2.06). One could say that we have here a 

concrete, visual instance of intertextuality, palimpsest and polyphony. 

Fig. 81: 3 Items – Collecting and Gathering - Findings from 'Data Group' 

(D1): 

Stage 4 

107

The installation is taken apart. Again there is a process of deconstruction, but immediately 

following it comes construction. The artist carefully collects the various parts in an orderly 

manner, and unites them in a tight neat structure. Once more they are together in one 

organised construct, the component parts sorted and classified. Each one is in the group it 

belongs to, and together they are packed into an ordered structure on the stage. The process 

of taking the installation apart is carried out like a sacred ritual. One could consider these, the 

first installation and the final collecting together, as two stages of assembly, the one stage 

extroverted, large, open and colourful, and the other introverted (wrapped up). 

The whole process started from a state of division and deconstruction, and in a 

transformational way developed through several stages of disassembly back to assembly, into 

a whole again. Each stage of dividing created materials from which new works could be 

created. 

108

The findings from group 2D – from the exhibition "A Painted Installation" (1994) were shown in 

the Elisabeth Sodeberg Gallery at the Western Galilee College in the framework of the National 

Exhibition "Art Focus". 

Following is an excerpt from the description of the exhibition, from data group 

A2(c) – 

"The exhibition is called "A Painted Installation" and is composed of three large wall paintings. 

Each wall painting is composed of 12 units. The three paintings deal with self portraits of the 

artist at work. Each one shows the artist from another angle. The exhibition changes its 

appearance every once in a while, is taken apart and restructured from the same materials. 

The exhibition is accompanied by accessories (mirrors, ladders). 

The exhibition is dynamic, moves, is taken apart, changes, and restructured over a period of 

one month. 

The portrait is first shown as a large wall painting (2.00 by 2.00 metres). Three large wall 

paintings each of which is composed of 12 parts. The parts of the painting make up the whole, 

but can also be a unit by themselves. 

The appearance of the portrait painting at the start of the exhibition as whole and complete is 

an illusion. Starting on the second day of the exhibition the paintings begin their journey of 

dismantling and assembling, rebuilding. There is no longer any significance to the portrait 

painting as such, the parts move and change on the wall and in the exhibition space, and 

create a new painting or paintings every time. The figurative portrait turns into an abstract 

painting that expands in space, changes, is destroyed, develops, is rebuilt and destroyed once 

more. The units hold a dialogue among themselves as if searching non-stop and all the time, 

for their different parts so as to be joined together anew. Each process of reassembling 

presents an additional and correct – by itself – possibility of different parts composing the 

whole. 

It seems as if the portrait was whole, complete, when first exhibited, but even then one could 

see that it was composed of parts. Its wholeness was always conditional. The process in which 

parts are dismantled and rebuilt each time points at the fact that the portrait acknowledges the 

fact that it is made up of parts, and that it can be restructured differently from the same parts – 

which is actually the real portrait. Changing, renewing, dismantling, restructuring, seeking". 

109

Stage I: At the exhibition space: 3 Self-Portrait's Murals 

Fig 82: 3 Paintings –' Self- Portrait' Installation- Findings from "Data Group' 

(D2) 

110

Fig. 83: 4 Paintings – Dismantling and transformation- Findings from "Data 

Group' (D2) – portrait 1 

Self-Portrait I – Dismantled and transformed at the gallery space 

111

Fig. 84: 3 Paintings – Deconstructing and Reconstructing - Findings from 

"Data Group' (D2)- portrait 1 

Self=Portrait I – Dismantled, transformed and rebuilt 

112

Fig. 85: 6 Paintings – Transformation in The Space - Findings from "Data 


Self-Portrait II: Transformed at the Gallery Space 

113

Fig. 86: 6 Paintings – Dismantling, Transformation and Reconstructing - 

Findings from "Data Group' (D2) – portrait 2 

Self-Portrait II: Dismantled, transformed and rebuilt 

114

Fig. 87: 6 Paintings –Transformation in the Space - Findings from "Data 


Self-Portrait III: Transformed at the gallery Space 

115

Fig. 88: 3 Paintings – Dismantling, Transformation and Reconstructing - 

Findings from "Data Group' (D2) – portrait 3 

Self-Portrait III: Dismantled, Transformed and rebuilt 

116

Glossary 1 

Act of Separation: A critical turning point, signifying the moment when the artist disassociates 

himself from his creation. The finished work places the artist vis-à-vis his creation as an observer and 

the work turns into an independent, autonomous object. 

Alternative data pool: Data created and collected in the field during the artistic activity as a by- 

product and retained as an additional, alternative, pool of data usable for validation and reinforcement of 

findings and interpretations. 

Artistic activity: The second stage in the research design when the self-portrait is painted. 

Artistic means: All components of the painting, all signs, images and contexts which the artist uses 

to carry out the painting work. The means by which the language of art is ‘spoken’. 

Book-object: The main finding in the category 'Artistic means as genre and style'. The super-finding 

and a 'central unit of analysis'. 

Categorical content analysis of visual means: A method of the Hermeneutic research. The 

first stage that used in the study. This stage borrowed from the method of content analysis of 'grounded 

theory'. It divides the text into units of significance according to the way in which components of the 

language of art are used. 

Chain of Observations: The continuum of three stages of investigation ('mirror encounter', 'artistic 

activity', 'investigative activity') each of which interprets the one before – an ongoing investigation. 

Chain of interpretations – Each stage in the chain of observation interprets the one before 

producing a parallel chain of exposition and interpretation. 

Consolidated, secondary artistic means - The consolidation of visual values (line, patch, form, 

colour) basic to the language of art into a complete artistic form, i.e. a painting. 

Designing Ego: The 'ego' as it acts, with his conscious, on the 'self' and its materials, takes 

ownership of them and uses them to fashion a comprehensive and composite -portrait of the whole self, 

as a work of art and personal myth. 

1 Terms coined for the research 

1

Founding encounter: The encounter of artist and mirror which is the first stage in the investigation. 

This is a founding meeting in the same sense as Lacan's 'mirror stage' which is a founding encounter in 

child development. In this research it acts as a point of departure. 

Formative artistic means: The basic elements of the language of art, e.g. line, patch, colour, form 

and so on. 

Informed and conscious consent: This term is based on the concept of informed consent from 

the field of ethics. It is an agreement, in advance, between the researcher and the researched in which 

the investigated agrees to take part in the research and cope with what is discovered and exposed. In 

this research the researcher and the researched are one and the same person, so that this is the 

agreement of the researcher as researched to accept the exposure and risks involved. 

Intratextual constructive analysis: This coinage extends the original term of Intratextual 

analysis by adjusting it to the needs and character of this investigation. 

Intertextual hermeneutic synthesis: The second stage of the hermeneutic investigation. This is 

the interpretation of the artistic findings and creates a synthesis between the new categories found in 

the Intertextual analysis, creating a deep, crosswise interpretation. It finds contexts for contents that are 

outside the text being interpreted. 

Investigative activity – The third stage of the research design –the analysis and interpretation of 

the finished self-portraits. 

Level of inner processing: The inner process of the language of art which enables inner, 

personal materials to be exposed and later coalesce into a shape that has content. 

Level of exterior appearance: Applied to a finished painting to stress that it derives from an 

earlier processing. Materials processed at the former level are now consolidated into a whole unit. 

Meta-introduction: The title of Chapter 2 which deals with the concept of the observations in this 

research, and is itself a chapter that observes from above. 

Mirror Encounter: The first stage in the 'chain of observation' in which the artist meets her image in 

the mirror (see funding encounter above). 

Secondary artistic means – crystallised: Formative components or visual values, now 

crystallised into forms which are also defined as artistic means, for example, images, genre and style. 

2

Single, Primary Formative artistic means: A description of the basic components of the 

artistic language, equivalent to the words and letters which make up a language. They include lines, 

blots, colours, shapes, light, shadow, etc. 

Super-finding: Describing the dual status of the 'Book Object' as the study’s central unit of analysis. 

At one time it serves as a super finding and later returns to be a unit of analysis containing a pool of 

data( see also the 'book – Object' above). 

Visual and explanatory text: A definition of the portrait paintings and all the creative work 

presented in this study. The word 'explanatory' refers to two acts – explaining and being explained. 

Visual texts: Paintings and creative work. 

Visual linguistic unit: A painting in this study. It is assumed that this is a unit which has a 

language, and that its language is visual. 

Visual structural analysis: Describes the method of analysis in this research, which includes both 

structural and thematic aspects but adds visual form. 

Visual Values: The various primary artistic means, such as Line, Blob, Form, Colour, Shadow, 

Light, Structure, Composition, etc. 

3

"Self- Portrait" – A Study of the 'Self':

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